Mississippi State University Scholars Junction Theses and Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 1-1-2010 Estimating the Carbon Fluxes using the CASA Model in the Southern United States Venkata Narendra Appala Rongali Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/td Recommended Citation Rongali, Venkata Narendra Appala, "Estimating the Carbon Fluxes using the CASA Model in the Southern United States" (2010). Theses and Dissertations. 1931. https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/td/1931 This Graduate Thesis - Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Scholars Junction. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholars Junction. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ESTIMATING THE CARBON FLUXES USING THE CASA MODEL IN THE SOUTHERN UNITED STATES By Venkata Narendra Appala Rongali A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Mississippi State University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master in Science in Electrical Engineering in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Mississippi State, Mississippi May 2010 Copyright by Venkata Narendra Appala Rongali 2010 ESTIMATING THE CARBON FLUXES USING THE CASA MODEL IN THE SOUTHERN UNITED STATES By Venkata Narendra Appala Rongali Approved: __________________________________ __________________________________ Nicolas H. Younan Surya S. Durbha Professor and Department Head Assistant Research Professor Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engg. Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engg. Major Advisor Co-Major Advisor __________________________________ Jenny Q. Du Associate Professor Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engg. Committee Member __________________________________ __________________________________ James E. Fowler Sarah A. Rajala Professor Dean of Bagley College of Engineering Dept. of Electrical Engineering Graduate Program Director Name: Venkata Narendra Appala Rongali Date of Degree: May 1, 2010 Institution: Mississippi State University Major Field: Electrical Engineering Major Professor: Dr. Nicolas H. Younan Title of Study: ESTIMATING THE CARBON FLUXES USING THE CASA MODEL IN THE SOUTHERN UNITED STATES Pages in Study: 90 Candidate for Degree of Master of Science A minute change in human body temperature can get one collapsed permanently. If this is the case with human body, one might wonder what would be the case with Earth. The result is the greenhouse. The main function of the greenhouse gases (GHG’s) is to tap energy from the sun and prevent the heat energy escaping to space, thus sustaining life on earth. Because of increased human activity, industrialization, and deforestation, the concentration of the GHG’s in the atmosphere has increased, resulting in a temperature rise. Considering the effects of temperature rise, caused by the GHG’s, one should know the ways to minimize them. In order to do this, an estimation of the amount of GHG’s is important. The CASA model is one such model that estimate the GHG’s and also the amount of carbon in the atmosphere by estimating the Net Ecosystem Productivity (NEP) and Net Primary Productivity (NPP). DEDICATION I would like to dedicate this thesis to God, to my parents to whom I owe everything, and to my sisters, in-laws and friends, who have been my continual support. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my major advisor, Dr. Nicolas H. Younan, for his advice and support while working on this research. I would also like to thank my co-major advisor, Dr. Surya S. Durbha, for his supervision, trust, support and guidance from the early stages of this research. Finally, I would like to acknowledge my committee member, Dr. Jenny Q. Du, for her support throughout the research. I gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided by the GEOSYSTEMS RESEARCH INSTITUTE (GRI) AT MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY FOR THIS RESEARCH for this research. I would like to thank fellow graduate students and faculties of the Geosystems Research Institute and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering for their support and advice. I would like to thank the National Aeronautics and Space Administration - Rapid Prototyping Center (NASA - RPC) people for funding this project. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION.................................................................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS............................................................................................... iii LIST OF TABLES............................................................................................................. vi LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................... vii CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................1 Background..............................................................................................................2 Carbon Sequestration .........................................................................................2 Kyoto Protocol ...................................................................................................3 Carbon Credit .....................................................................................................3 Source and Sink .................................................................................................4 IPCC and Global Warming ................................................................................5 NEP and NPP.....................................................................................................6 Objectives ................................................................................................................6 Thesis Organization .................................................................................................7 II. LITERATURE OVERVIEW...................................................................................9 CASA Model and Data Assimilation .......................................................................9 WRF Model ...........................................................................................................11 Land and Biosphere Models ..................................................................................12 III. METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................14 Comprehensive Description of the CASA Model .................................................13 Basic Implementation of the CASA ................................................................13 Input Data Sets ...........................................................................................16 Normal Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) .....................................16 Precipitation (PPT)...............................................................................18 Air Temperature (AIRT) ......................................................................18 iv Soil .......................................................................................................19 Solar Radiation (SOLRAD).................................................................19 Land Mask ...........................................................................................20 Vegetation............................................................................................20 Parameters Table ..................................................................................21 Landcover Table ..................................................................................21 Soil Table .............................................................................................22 Other Inputs .........................................................................................22 Output Data Sets ........................................................................................22 Data Extraction ......................................................................................................24 NDVI Data Extraction .....................................................................................24 Precipitation Data Extraction...........................................................................38 Soil Data Extraction.........................................................................................42 Temperature Data Extraction ...........................................................................51 Solar Data Extraction .......................................................................................52 Scripts Written .......................................................................................................52 Softwares and Tools...............................................................................................52 Potter’s Regional Scale Study................................................................................54 IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS..........................................................................56 NcView Plots of NPP and NEP .............................................................................56 NPP Plots at Random Location..............................................................................66 V. CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................72 Suggestions ............................................................................................................72