2017/12/12 by Joseph A. Santanello, Paul A. Dirmeyer, Craig R. Ferguson +12 · 524 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Engineering · Environmental Science · Mathematics · #Atmosphere (unit) #Climate change #Climate model #Climate variability and models #Climatology #Computer science #Coupling (piping) #Ecology #Engineering #Environmental science #Geography #Geology #Mathematics #Meteorological Phenomena and Simulations #Meteorology #Perspective (graphical) #Political science #Politics #Precipitation #Predictability #Representation (politics) #Set (abstract data type) #Soil Moisture and Remote Sensing #Water cycle
paper · pdf · doi:10.1175/bams-d-17-0001.1
published in Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 99(6), 1253-1272 (American Meteorological Society)
openalex publication_date 2017/12/12 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Abstract Land–atmosphere (L-A) interactions are a main driver of Earth’s surface water and energy budgets; as such, they modulate near-surface climate, including clouds and precipitation, and can influence the persistence of extremes such as drought. Despite their importance, the representation of L-A interactions in weather and climate models remains poorly constrained, as they involve a complex set of processes that are difficult to observe in nature. In addition, a complete understanding of L-A processes requires interdisciplinary expertise and approaches that transcend traditional research paradigms and communities. To address these issues, the international Global Energy and Water Exchanges project (GEWEX) Global Land–Atmosphere System Study (GLASS) panel has supported “L-A coupling” as one of its core themes for well over a decade. Under this initiative, several successful land surface and global climate modeling projects have identified hot spots of L-A coupling and helped quantify the role of land surface states in weather and climate predictability. GLASS formed the Local Land–Atmosphere Coupling (LoCo) project and working group to examine L-A interactions at the process level, focusing on understanding and quantifying these processes in nature and evaluating them in models. LoCo has produced an array of L-A coupling metrics for different applications and scales and has motivated a growing number of young scientists from around the world. This article provides an overview of the LoCo effort, including metric and model applications, along with scientific and programmatic developments and challenges.