A spatially referenced water and nitrogen management model (WNMM) for (irrigated) intensive cropping systems in the North China Plain

Abstract

A spatially referenced biophysical model, the water and nitrogen management model (WNMM), was developed and shown to simulate dynamic soil water movement and soil-crop carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycling under a given agricultural management, for the purpose of identifying optimal strategies for managing water and fertiliser N under intensive cropping systems (mainly wheat-maize) in the North China Plain and other regions in the world. A uniform data structure, ARC GRID ASCII format, was used both in GIS and WNMM for achieving a close Model-GIS coupling. A significant part of WNMM adopts and modifies concepts and components from widely used models, with a focus on soil N transformations. WNM..