Ecosystem Production Modelling in the Iberian Peninsula Comparative Analysis between Modis and Meris Datasets

Assessing the regional vegetation dynamics in the Iberian Peninsula (IP) is a key issue in the context of the carbon cycle at the southern Europe ecosystems. The estimation of net ecosystem production (NEP) was conducted by a productivity ecosystem model, the Carnegie Ames Stanford Approach (CASA) model, based on MODIS fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (fAPAR) and leaf area index (LAI) products, being calibration supported by ten CO2 eddy covariance towers, under the CARBOEUROPE framework. This paper aims to evaluate the application of the CASA model to the IP, supported by MERIS data sets, namely the MERIS global vegetation index (MGVI). Firstly, a comparison analysis between fAPAR data sets from MODIS and MERIS was conducted, focusing the regional and the local scale for six biomes, and secondly an assessment between the NEP estimates derived from the two data sets was made. Main findings include a systematically higher MODIS than MERIS fAPAR data, and a seasonal dependence of the correlation between the two data sets, as well as the derived NEP estimations.