Summary

 

CarboGrowth is based on a non-linear function that describes the current growth of the stand being studied. As this function does not have a derivative, the solution is reached by a stepwise process where the value of the parameters are changed in order to minimise the sum of the squares of the deviations from the original observations. The function used was chosen because its natural form of how the current growth develops over age and is as follows:

CI=a(A-d) (b*c) e-c(A-d)
Where:
CI=Current Increment in m3s/ha/a
A=age in years
e=base for the natural logarithm

a,b,c and d are coefficients estimated by CarboGrowth for a minimum sum of squares

adaptation (b=age of culmination of the CI).