Research Spirit

So the question arises when I talked to Remy about the leaf temperature problem I ran into in my project: what is the right altitude when encounters the 'more models, more uncertainty' problem. In my case, I used air temperature in the photosynthesis calculation instead of leaf temperature to simplify the calculation. My justification for this simplification lies on two aspects. First, the final product I am seeking is the Vcmax25, which doesn't get affected much by small differences (+ - 2) between Tl and Ta; second, I thought the calculation of leaf temperature may require introducing a big ass ET model into my existing code, which, I feel very reluctant to do.

After hearing out my problem, Remy's suggestion was to go with the ET model option. According to Remy, since using Ta instead of Tl will no doubt attracts questions from the reviewers, it is much better to solve the Tl problem even it means dealing with the complicated ET model. Then I threw out the classic 'more models, more uncertainty' puzzle, and Remy's explanation really struck me: 'it doesn't matter how accurate the model is, what matters most is the overall frame. You don't have to do everything perfectly yourself. Once you set up the main frame, it opens the opportunity for others to improve it'. Bingo! That was so straight to the point! I even felt bad for myself since I never thought like this. I think my laziness and bad habit of procrastination really get in the way of my research to the point whenever I encounter a problem, I always try to make it go away instead of sitting down study it and eventually solve it.

Later on that day, I went back to my office and pulled out the energy balance equation and suddenly I realized the only unknown in the equation is Tl, other parameters can either be calculated or assigned based on different PFTs. I had quite mixed feeling of this realization. I felt happy indeed since the problem that has been hanging in my mind for so long was finally solved, but at the same time, I can't stop wandering that if I spent some more time to strengthen the basics, this should never have been a problem.