A linked modelling framework to explore interactions among climate, soil water, and land use decisions in the Argentine Pampas

Authored by Guillermo A Garcia, Pablo E Garcia, Santiago L Rovere, Federico E Bert, Federico Schmidt, Angel N Menendez, Marcelo D Nosetto, Andrew Verdin, Balaji Rajagopalan, Poonam Arora, Guillermo P Podesta

Date Published: 2019

DOI: 10.1016/j.envsoft.2018.10.013

Sponsors: ANPCYT United States National Science Foundation (NSF) National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET)

Platforms: Repast R Visual C#

Model Documentation: Other Narrative Flow charts

Model Code URLs: Model code not found

Abstract

In flat environments, groundwater is relatively shallow, tightly associated with surface water and climate, and can have either positive and negative impacts on natural and human systems depending on its depth. A linked modelling and analysis framework that seeks to capture linkages across multiple scales at the climate/water/crop nexus in the Argentine Pampas is presented. This region shows a strong coupling between climate, soil water, and land use due to its extremely flat topography and poorly developed drainage networks. The work describes the components of the framework and, subsequently, presents results from simulations performed with the twin goals of (i) validating the framework as a whole and (ii) demonstrating its usefulness to explore interesting contexts such as unexperienced climate scenarios (wet/dry periods), hypothetical policies (e.g., differential grains export taxes), and adoption of non-structural technologies (e.g., cover crops) to manage water table depth.
Tags
Agent-based model Agriculture Ecosystem services Aspiration level Hybrid model risk management Agent based-model Water table Natural-human systems Mike she Southern south-america Cover crops Agricultural systems Groundwater dynamics Shallow groundwater Soybean yields