SIMULATING N2O EMISSION FROM KOBRESIA HUMILIS SERG. ALPINE MEADOW ON TIBETAN PLATEAU WITH THE DNDC MODEL

Field measured N2O emissions in two years were used to parameterize and validate a process-based model, DNDC, for an alpine Kobresia humilis meadow on the Tibetan Plateau in China. Although this model failed to capture the N2O fluxes in some time periods in the spring or autumn, the modeled results showed overall a good performance in terms of simulating the seasonal variation of N2O fluxes and quantifying the annual total emissions. The relative deviation on the annual basis was about 12.4% and -15.9% for the two years, respectively. The modeled data showed that nitrification contributed about 53% of total N2O production, slightly higher than denitrification. The modeled fluxes were sensitive to soil organic content (SOC), pH, and temperature, but less sensitive to variation of precipitation, soil ammonium and nitrate contents. Further modifications for the model were suggested to focus on the process of soil freezing and thawing as well as the crop growth sub-model that would improve the model's performance for quantifying N2O emission from the alpine meadow.