Sensitivity analysis of spatio-temporal models describing nitrogen transfers, transformations and losses at the landscape scale

TL;DR

This paper presents a comprehensive sensitivity analysis of the NitroScape model, a spatially distributed model for nitrogen dynamics in landscapes, demonstrating its utility for model simplification and resolution optimization.

Contribution

It introduces a methodology for spatial and temporal sensitivity analysis of complex landscape models, applicable to models with multiple space-time variables.

Findings

Cluster analysis effectively summarized sensitivity results.

Methodology aids in model resolution and factor selection.

Applicable to other spatially distributed environmental models.

Abstract

Modelling complex systems such as agroecosystems often requires the quantification of a large number of input factors. Sensitivity analyses are useful to determine the appropriate spatial and temporal resolution of models and to reduce the number of factors to be measured or estimated accurately. Comprehensive spatial and temporal sensitivity analyses were applied to the NitroScape model, a deterministic spatially distributed model describing nitrogen transfers and transformations in rural landscapes. Simulations were led on a theoretical landscape that represented five years of intensive farm management and covering an area of $3\, km^2$. Cluster analyses were applied to summarize the results of the sensitivity analysis on the ensemble of model outputs. The methodology we applied is useful to synthesize sensitivity analyses of models with multiple space-time input and output variables and could be ported to other models than NitroScape.