Regional assessment of forest GPP using meteorological spatial data

The objective of the present paper was to evaluate the applicability of an interpolation methodology (DAYMET) to produce daily spatially distributed meteorological data usable to drive models of ecosystem processes. Two of these models (BIOME-BGC and C-Fix) are able to estimate forest Gross Primary Production (GPP) by using different approaches: the first one is a bio-geochemical model based on the eco-physiological behaviour of the forest species and the latter is driven by Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) imagery. C-Fix was already validated for Italy and was used as a reference to test the reliability of BIOME-BGC to produce GPP estimates. After the validation BIOME-BGC could be used to obtain a more complete characterisation of forest processes such as Net Primary Production (NPP) and Net Ecosystem Exchange (NEE)