CLM-AG: An Agriculture Module for the Community Land Model version 3.5

Abstract

It is estimated that 40% of all crops grown in the world today are grown using irrigation. As a consequence, shifting precipitation patterns due to climate change are viewed as a major threat to food security. This report presents the Community Land Model-Agriculture module (CLM-AG), which models crop growth and water stress. The CLM-AG model is a global generic crop model built in the framework of the Community Land Model version 3.5. This report describes the structure and main routines of the model. Two different evaluations of the model are then considered. First, at a global level, CLM-AG is run under a historic climatology and compared to the Global Agro-Ecological Zones, an existing model of irrigation need. Second, the irrigation need computed for the United States is compared to survey data from the United States Department of Agriculture. For both evaluations, CLM-AG results are comparable to either the model results or the surveyed data.