A Historically Driven Spinup Procedure for Soil Carbon Modeling

Soil process models such as RothC typically assume soil organic carbon (SOC) is in equilibrium at the beginning of each simulation run. This not likely to be true real world, since recalcitrant SOC pools (notably, humified material) take many decades re-stabilize after a land use change. The assumption stems from spinup method which model run under single until all stabilize. To overcome this, we demonstrate an alternative procedure that accounts for historical changes. “steady-state” and “historical” methods both impute unknown C inputs modeled matches empirical measurements set initial fractions. Holding other parameters equal, evaluated how affects projections simulations agricultural change U.S. state Vermont. We found projected trajectories scenarios are sensitive procedure. These differences due disparities imputed below-ground plant-derived between two procedures. Compared steady-state, higher uses increase (e.g., adoption regenerative practices) lower decrease transition pasture crops), time window within changes assumed have occurred. novel captures important dynamics commonly missing previous studies, representing advancement modeling.