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Chandler Haukap edited this page Feb 14, 2020 · 3 revisions

Overview

The environment module of STEPWAT2 generates two outputs:

  • Precipitation in millimeters.
  • Temperature in celcius.

Both temperature and precipitation are calculated using SOILWAT2 repository. SOILWAT2 runs on a daily time step and the environment module consolidates these values to monthly and yearly time steps for STEPWAT2. These monthly and yearly values are then used as determinants in plant growth and mortality.

In plant mortality

The precipitation values are used to determine if the current year is wet, dry, or normal.

In plant growth

Temperature plays a large role in plant growth. Years with temperature extremes affect plant growth according to equations 12 and 13 from Coffin and Lauenroth 1990.

Input Parameters

Modifiable environment parameters are located in the environment input file. The environment module is heavily dependent on SOILWAT2, so if you would like to make serious changes to precipitation or temperature please see the SOILWAT2 repository.