Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Canadian Agricultural Soils

The DeNitrification-DeComposition (DNDC) computer model simulates crop and soil conditions for agriculture and is widely used by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) scientists to predict agricultural greenhouse gas emissions. Until recently, there was no national Canadian database of soil, climate and agronomic management inputs that could be used to run the model. A national database was needed to facilitate consistent model runs for sites across Canada and to be a starting point for future modeling efforts and national greenhouse gas emissions inventory calculations. Environmental Geosolutions worked with AAFC to generate the national database required to run the DNDC model and develop an interface that would allow users to specify individual regions within Canada to run the model.