Isotopes in Project for Intercomparison of Land-Surface Parameterization Schemes (iPILPS) - Wet Sclerophyll Forest, Tumbarumba, Australia

Isotopes are one of the most useful and innovative tools for understanding complex processes in the water cycle, paleoclimate and biogeochemistry on many timescales. iPILPS is a new type of PILPS experiment in which the process of international intercomparison will educate the land-surface scheme (LSS) parameterization community while new aspects of LSS are being developed. A land-surface scheme (LSS) is an algorithm for determining the exchanges of energy, mass and momentum between the atmosphere and continents. iPILPS is a component of the current initiative to add isotopic (stable and radioactive) representation to atmospheric and land-surface models. The forcing data includes magnitudes of each isotope (1H2 18O and 1H2H16O) in precipitation and in water vapour at the atmospheric lowest level plus all the standard Assistance for Land-surface Modelling Activities (ALMA) meteorological forcing including 'regular' water (1H216O). Phase 1 included a mid-latitude eucalypt (evergreen) forest, nominally at Tumbarumba, Australia (35S 148E). Forcing was provided at this location for four years. The experimental design directed each ILSS to use the first year's forcing repeatedly for as many years as that ILSS required to achieve equilibrium (this experimental component was designated EQY1), and then use the next three years' forcing to create three years' simulations (this 'Basin Comparison' was designated BC24).