Welcome to the CenW download page

CenW is a generic growth and carbon cycling model developed by Miko Kirschbaum and colleagues. It simulates photosynthetic carbon gain, water use and the nitrogen cycle through soil organic matter. The photosynthetic modelling uses a simple, yet physiologically based, description of photosynthesis together with simple assumptions about light interception. With appropriate parameter settings, it can be used for forest or pasture systems.

Calculation of water use is linked to light interception and calculated carbon gain which are linked to water loss calculated with a mechanistic water loss routine and an assumed water use efficiency term that explictly links carbon and water dynamics. Nitrogen turn-over is calculated with a modified version of the CENTURY model, which links organic carbon and nitrogen in soil organic matter pools and the dynamics of carbon and nitrogen in the soil with that in plants.

It is suitable for simulating pasture and forest growth under different climatic and soil conditions, and in response to management changes and climatic changes. It is suitable for simulations of wood-volume growth in forests or milk production in dairy systems, and can follow short-term and long-term carbon balances in plant biomass and soil organic matter. Appropriate times scales range from daily to compare fluxes against observations from eddy-covariance measurements to millenial to follow long-term changes in soil carbon.

For more information about the model, and to view the full set of equations behind the software, please go to EQUATIONS PAGE.

The download page is now hosted by Landcare Research. Click HERE TO DOWNLOAD CenW.

For any enquiries relating to the CenW software, please contact me at or return to my HOME PAGE.