Arteaga, J.; Hartman, M.; Parton, W.; Chen, M.; Gao, W.

Historical grassland aboveground plant productivity (ANPP) was simulated by the DayCent-UV ecosystem model across the midwestern and western conterminous United States. For this study we developed a novel method for informing the DayCent-UV model and validating its plant productivity estimates for grasslands of the midwestern and western conterminous USA by utilizing a wide range of data sources at multiple scales, from field observations to remotely sensed satellite data. The model phenology was informed by the MODIS MCD12Q2 product, which showed good agreement with in-situ observations of growing season commencement and duration across different grassland ecosystems, and with observed historical trends. Model results from each simulated grid cell were compared to a remote-sensing ANPP modified version offered by the Analysis Rangeland Platform (RAP). This modified RAP ANPP calculation incorporated total annual precipitation, instead of mean annual temperature, as the control factor for the fraction of carbon allocated to roots. Strong temporal correlations were obtained between RAP and DayCent-UV, especially across the Great Plains. Good agreement was also found when the model results were compared with ANPP observations at the site and county level. The data produced by this study will serve as a valuable resource for validation or calibration of various models that aim to capture accurate productivity dynamics across diverse grassland ecosystems.