Evaluating consistency of biosphere models: software tools for a web-based service

A biosphere model is a geographical extension of an ecosystem model, and so modelling ecosystems at global scale we are facing the same problem as at the local scale -structural uncertainty. The structural uncertainty includes competing conceptual frameworks, lack of agreement on model structure, ambiguous definitions of system boundaries, inadequate description of significant processes. The typical approach to this problem is assessing the maturity of the underlying science through retrospection of modelling efforts. This displays either consensus building or paradigm shift. In this paper we present a general scheme and software tools for performing such analysis, discuss how this scheme can be used for benchmarking a newly developed model, and specify a webbased service relevant to this purpose.