Data underlying the publication: Effect of increasing conceptual model detail on simulated crop yield-drainage base relations

This dataset contains the model in- and output and scripts describing the methodology of the study "Effect of increasing conceptual model detail on simulated crop yield-drainage base relations". The aim of this research was to investigate the effect of the use of different levels of conceptual model detail within the SWAP model, which are the result of scientific development since the 1980s, on the relation between agricultural yield and the drainage base. This was done using the standard parameters for each concept for a representative field on the sandy uplands of the Netherlands between 1923 and 2024. The methodology of this study consists of two steps. The first step demonstrates the relation between yield and the drainage base for five base models, which differ in the level of model detail, for a maize crop simulated from 1923 to 2024. The base models have common parameters but simulate potential evapotranspiration, crop growth and oxygen and drought stress in an increasingly more detailed manner. For each of these base models, the drainage base was varied. To evaluate the effect of changing meteorological conditions, results were aggregated for the 30-year periods 1925-1954, 1960-1989 and 1995-2024. Using the resultant relationships between yield and the drainage base, feasible ranges of the drainage base required to achieve a minimum relative yield of 80 and 90% were determined. These ranges can be used for adaptation of the drainage system in the Netherlands to both wet and dry extremes. The second step applies the methodology of the first step to different soil profiles, crops, bottom boundary condition configurations and drainage resistances to check if differences between the base models found in step one are consistent across contexts. A shorter period was simulated (1995-2024) and feasible ranges of the drainage base were determined for a minimum relative yield of 85%.