the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
| 11 Jul 2024
The AgraSim (Agricultural Simulator) facility for the comprehensive experimental simulation and analysis of environmental impacts on processes in the soil-plant-atmosphere system
Abstract. The AgraSim (Agricultural Simulator) large-scale research infrastructure is an experimental simulator consisting of six mesocosms (each mesocosm consisting of an integrated climate chamber, plant chamber and lysimeter system) for studying the effects of future climate conditions on plant physiological, biogeochemical, hydrological and atmospheric processes in agroecosystems, which was designed and built by the Forschungszentrum Jülich.
AgraSim makes it possible to simulate the environmental conditions in the mesocosms in a fully controlled manner under different weather and climate conditions ranging from tropical to boreal climate. Moreover, it provides a unique way of imposing future climate conditions which presently cannot be implemented under real-world conditions. It allows monitoring and controlling states and fluxes of a broad range of processes in the soil-plant-atmosphere system. This information can then be used to give input to process-models, to improve process descriptions and to serve as a platform for the development of a digital twin of the soil-plant-atmosphere system.
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Status: closed
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RC1: 'Comment on egusphere-2024-1598', Anonymous Referee #1, 21 Oct 2024
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AC1: 'Reply on RC1', Joschka Neumann, 06 Feb 2025
Thank you very much for your feedback and suggestions for improvement. We will take these points into account in a revision.
Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1598-AC1
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AC1: 'Reply on RC1', Joschka Neumann, 06 Feb 2025
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RC2: 'Comment on egusphere-2024-1598', Anonymous Referee #2, 08 May 2025
General comments
This paper is well-constructed and well-articulated. However, to enhance the overall description of such equipment, a synthetic presentation of the extreme climates covered and simplified schematic illustration of the whole system would be appreciated. The key scientific and technical locks addressed in this paper could be more highlighted. Finally, a summary of the performances achieved after the first tests compared to those expected would be welcome.
Recommendation: Accepted with Major Revisions
Please do find below remarks and suggestions:
- Adding a summary table with performance objectives versus reached ones would be of interest for the reader.
- Regulation test results presented seems not to have been carried out with an external load (temperature, water ingress, pollutant gas episode, …) added in measurement cell. Although, the time constant of natural event are low, one would be interested in extreme event impact on long term plant growing and soil evolution.
- Introduction should explicitly state the primary goal and research gap to help understand the novelty the facility's development brings to the research domain. For instance, by better introducing the limitation of existing outdoor experiments possibilities and limitations, for instance by acting directly on soil pollution composition.
- Is global instrumentation at air level is enough sensitive to allow
- What is the typical duration of an experiment and how breakdowns or maintenance operations could be addressed?
- Could you introduce some complementary information on how your regulation system would respond to changes in the root environment, to the simulation of heat or cold wave in terms of adapting and handling heat and mass transfer management, strong rain event, air pollution puff?
- Could you detailed particular adaptation you have imagined to manage pollutants and drainage water in your large-scale testing facilities?
- Looking at the whole system, is energy harvesting and/or energy optimisation are integrated in the scheduling of your experiments?
- How do you planned to manage TDR probe calibration in front of soil composition against its potential evolution in order to maintain accurate measurements?
- Line 351, reference to fig 8 failed in the text
Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1598-RC2
Status: closed
-
RC1: 'Comment on egusphere-2024-1598', Anonymous Referee #1, 21 Oct 2024
General comments
This paper is well-constructed and well-articulated. However, it would take benefit from some improvements including more quantitative/statistical data, comparisons with similar systems/facilities, clearer objectives, and better figure labelling, which are welcome for better readability.
-
AC1: 'Reply on RC1', Joschka Neumann, 06 Feb 2025
Thank you very much for your feedback and suggestions for improvement. We will take these points into account in a revision.
Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1598-AC1
-
AC1: 'Reply on RC1', Joschka Neumann, 06 Feb 2025
-
RC2: 'Comment on egusphere-2024-1598', Anonymous Referee #2, 08 May 2025
General comments
This paper is well-constructed and well-articulated. However, to enhance the overall description of such equipment, a synthetic presentation of the extreme climates covered and simplified schematic illustration of the whole system would be appreciated. The key scientific and technical locks addressed in this paper could be more highlighted. Finally, a summary of the performances achieved after the first tests compared to those expected would be welcome.
Recommendation: Accepted with Major Revisions
Please do find below remarks and suggestions:
- Adding a summary table with performance objectives versus reached ones would be of interest for the reader.
- Regulation test results presented seems not to have been carried out with an external load (temperature, water ingress, pollutant gas episode, …) added in measurement cell. Although, the time constant of natural event are low, one would be interested in extreme event impact on long term plant growing and soil evolution.
- Introduction should explicitly state the primary goal and research gap to help understand the novelty the facility's development brings to the research domain. For instance, by better introducing the limitation of existing outdoor experiments possibilities and limitations, for instance by acting directly on soil pollution composition.
- Is global instrumentation at air level is enough sensitive to allow
- What is the typical duration of an experiment and how breakdowns or maintenance operations could be addressed?
- Could you introduce some complementary information on how your regulation system would respond to changes in the root environment, to the simulation of heat or cold wave in terms of adapting and handling heat and mass transfer management, strong rain event, air pollution puff?
- Could you detailed particular adaptation you have imagined to manage pollutants and drainage water in your large-scale testing facilities?
- Looking at the whole system, is energy harvesting and/or energy optimisation are integrated in the scheduling of your experiments?
- How do you planned to manage TDR probe calibration in front of soil composition against its potential evolution in order to maintain accurate measurements?
- Line 351, reference to fig 8 failed in the text
Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1598-RC2
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General comments
This paper is well-constructed and well-articulated. However, it would take benefit from some improvements including more quantitative/statistical data, comparisons with similar systems/facilities, clearer objectives, and better figure labelling, which are welcome for better readability.