NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Back to Results
Bioclimatic distribution of vegetation for general circulation model studiesFour global bioclimatic schemes which qualify climates on the basis of the distribution of vegetation, including the Holdridge (1947), Thornthwaite (1948), Koeppen (1936), and Troll and Paffen (1964) schemes, were applied to two global climate data sets to produce maps of global vegetation distribution: the Rand set described by Schutz and Gates (1971, 1973, and 1974) and the Shea (1986) data set. The results show that only 38 to 40 percent of the observed land surface, mapped as 31 vegetation types, could be replicated by applying the four schemes to these data sets. The simulations were significantly improved by further subdividing and regrouping the climates defined by the schemes and by regrouping the observed vegetation types. With these alterations, 77 percent of the predicted vegetative landscape coresponded with the observed distribution of vegetation.
Document ID
19900056789
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Prentice, Katharine Culbertson
(NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies New York, United States)
Date Acquired
August 14, 2013
Publication Date
July 20, 1990
Publication Information
Publication: Journal of Geophysical Research
Volume: 95
ISSN: 0148-0227
Subject Category
Meteorology And Climatology
Accession Number
90A43844
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

Available Downloads

There are no available downloads for this record.
No Preview Available