Reliable, robust and realistic: the three R's of next-generation land-surface modelling

Prentice, I. C.; Liang, X.; Medlyn, B. E.; Wang, Y.-P.

doi:10.5194/acp-15-5987-2015

Articles | Volume 15, issue 10

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-5987-2015

© Author(s) 2015. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-5987-2015

© Author(s) 2015. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 15, issue 10

Review article

| Highlight paper

|

29 May 2015

Review article | Highlight paper |

| 29 May 2015

Reliable, robust and realistic: the three R's of next-generation land-surface modelling

I. C. Prentice, X. Liang, B. E. Medlyn, and Y.-P. Wang

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Total article views: 10,481 (including HTML, PDF, and XML)

HTML	PDF	XML	Total	BibTeX	EndNote
7,297	2,864	320	10,481	239	291

HTML: 7,297
PDF: 2,864
XML: 320
Total: 10,481
BibTeX: 239
EndNote: 291

Views and downloads (calculated since 26 Sep 2014)

Month	HTML	PDF	XML	Total
Sep 2014	95	51	5	151
Oct 2014	54	104	5	163
Nov 2014	78	57	1	136
Dec 2014	47	44	4	95
Jan 2015	17	14	0	31
Feb 2015	36	11	2	49
Mar 2015	37	14	4	55
Apr 2015	48	8	2	58
May 2015	49	31	10	90
Jun 2015	263	137	14	414
Jul 2015	226	105	9	340
Aug 2015	100	78	4	182
Sep 2015	33	58	3	94
Oct 2015	48	63	3	114
Nov 2015	63	64	5	132
Dec 2015	39	59	6	104
Jan 2016	53	54	1	108
Feb 2016	43	33	7	83
Mar 2016	33	15	1	49
Apr 2016	29	18	2	49
May 2016	19	26	2	47
Jun 2016	12	12	1	25
Jul 2016	20	15	5	40
Aug 2016	18	13	0	31
Sep 2016	18	9	3	30
Oct 2016	12	7	0	19
Nov 2016	6	5	0	11
Dec 2016	4	1	1	6
Jan 2017	19	6	2	27
Feb 2017	22	10	2	34
Mar 2017	51	14	6	71
Apr 2017	57	16	3	76
May 2017	57	17	4	78
Jun 2017	52	16	4	72
Jul 2017	27	13	2	42
Aug 2017	9	17	0	26
Sep 2017	24	27	1	52
Oct 2017	20	14	0	34
Nov 2017	11	16	0	27
Dec 2017	15	9	2	26
Jan 2018	17	13	1	31
Feb 2018	23	11	0	34
Mar 2018	18	16	1	35
Apr 2018	9	12	1	22
May 2018	20	22	2	44
Jun 2018	23	12	2	37
Jul 2018	15	14	3	32
Aug 2018	24	11	3	38
Sep 2018	20	19	2	41
Oct 2018	24	20	4	48
Nov 2018	20	20	2	42
Dec 2018	14	11	3	28
Jan 2019	13	10	4	27
Feb 2019	7	6	3	16
Mar 2019	35	15	4	54
Apr 2019	39	6	0	45
May 2019	44	12	0	56
Jun 2019	26	6	0	32
Jul 2019	38	14	1	53
Aug 2019	27	6	1	34
Sep 2019	34	4	1	39
Oct 2019	36	9	0	45
Nov 2019	41	8	0	49
Dec 2019	29	12	0	41
Jan 2020	38	7	3	48
Feb 2020	37	9	1	47
Mar 2020	49	6	1	56
Apr 2020	55	9	2	66
May 2020	78	16	1	95
Jun 2020	62	5	1	68
Jul 2020	73	12	9	94
Aug 2020	47	6	5	58
Sep 2020	50	6	0	56
Oct 2020	31	9	2	42
Nov 2020	28	7	1	36
Dec 2020	74	11	1	86
Jan 2021	82	20	0	102
Feb 2021	53	10	0	63
Mar 2021	57	7	0	64
Apr 2021	62	22	5	89
May 2021	80	25	2	107
Jun 2021	75	19	0	94
Jul 2021	125	19	1	145
Aug 2021	54	18	1	73
Sep 2021	64	13	0	77
Oct 2021	70	47	0	117
Nov 2021	69	43	5	117
Dec 2021	67	17	0	84
Jan 2022	69	20	3	92
Feb 2022	63	11	6	80
Mar 2022	61	19	2	82
Apr 2022	71	11	5	87
May 2022	49	5	0	54
Jun 2022	57	4	2	63
Jul 2022	69	6	0	75
Aug 2022	66	8	0	74
Sep 2022	63	10	1	74
Oct 2022	54	9	2	65
Nov 2022	82	13	0	95
Dec 2022	96	10	0	106
Jan 2023	114	27	1	142
Feb 2023	92	26	0	118
Mar 2023	115	34	2	151
Apr 2023	88	33	1	122
May 2023	95	14	0	109
Jun 2023	112	11	2	125
Jul 2023	113	7	1	121
Aug 2023	133	18	4	155
Sep 2023	137	25	2	164
Oct 2023	105	18	2	125
Nov 2023	51	8	0	59
Dec 2023	76	20	6	102
Jan 2024	66	30	2	98
Feb 2024	54	23	1	78
Mar 2024	93	25	2	120
Apr 2024	97	20	3	120
May 2024	37	25	1	63
Jun 2024	53	14	2	69
Jul 2024	27	31	7	65
Aug 2024	65	37	23	125
Sep 2024	31	14	3	48
Oct 2024	52	24	0	76
Nov 2024	67	15	3	85
Dec 2024	61	46	2	109
Jan 2025	49	23	1	73
Feb 2025	66	21	5	92
Mar 2025	50	21	7	78
Apr 2025	28	23	0	51
May 2025	66	17	2	85
Jun 2025	74	18	3	95
Jul 2025	57	21	1	79
Aug 2025	76	31	2	109
Sep 2025	76	26	1	103
Oct 2025	68	48	2	118
Nov 2025	13	11	0	24

Cumulative views and downloads (calculated since 26 Sep 2014)

Month	HTML	PDF	XML	Total
Sep 2014	95	51	5	151
Oct 2014	54	104	5	163
Nov 2014	78	57	1	136
Dec 2014	47	44	4	95
Jan 2015	17	14	0	31
Feb 2015	36	11	2	49
Mar 2015	37	14	4	55
Apr 2015	48	8	2	58
May 2015	49	31	10	90
Jun 2015	263	137	14	414
Jul 2015	226	105	9	340
Aug 2015	100	78	4	182
Sep 2015	33	58	3	94
Oct 2015	48	63	3	114
Nov 2015	63	64	5	132
Dec 2015	39	59	6	104
Jan 2016	53	54	1	108
Feb 2016	43	33	7	83
Mar 2016	33	15	1	49
Apr 2016	29	18	2	49
May 2016	19	26	2	47
Jun 2016	12	12	1	25
Jul 2016	20	15	5	40
Aug 2016	18	13	0	31
Sep 2016	18	9	3	30
Oct 2016	12	7	0	19
Nov 2016	6	5	0	11
Dec 2016	4	1	1	6
Jan 2017	19	6	2	27
Feb 2017	22	10	2	34
Mar 2017	51	14	6	71
Apr 2017	57	16	3	76
May 2017	57	17	4	78
Jun 2017	52	16	4	72
Jul 2017	27	13	2	42
Aug 2017	9	17	0	26
Sep 2017	24	27	1	52
Oct 2017	20	14	0	34
Nov 2017	11	16	0	27
Dec 2017	15	9	2	26
Jan 2018	17	13	1	31
Feb 2018	23	11	0	34
Mar 2018	18	16	1	35
Apr 2018	9	12	1	22
May 2018	20	22	2	44
Jun 2018	23	12	2	37
Jul 2018	15	14	3	32
Aug 2018	24	11	3	38
Sep 2018	20	19	2	41
Oct 2018	24	20	4	48
Nov 2018	20	20	2	42
Dec 2018	14	11	3	28
Jan 2019	13	10	4	27
Feb 2019	7	6	3	16
Mar 2019	35	15	4	54
Apr 2019	39	6	0	45
May 2019	44	12	0	56
Jun 2019	26	6	0	32
Jul 2019	38	14	1	53
Aug 2019	27	6	1	34
Sep 2019	34	4	1	39
Oct 2019	36	9	0	45
Nov 2019	41	8	0	49
Dec 2019	29	12	0	41
Jan 2020	38	7	3	48
Feb 2020	37	9	1	47
Mar 2020	49	6	1	56
Apr 2020	55	9	2	66
May 2020	78	16	1	95
Jun 2020	62	5	1	68
Jul 2020	73	12	9	94
Aug 2020	47	6	5	58
Sep 2020	50	6	0	56
Oct 2020	31	9	2	42
Nov 2020	28	7	1	36
Dec 2020	74	11	1	86
Jan 2021	82	20	0	102
Feb 2021	53	10	0	63
Mar 2021	57	7	0	64
Apr 2021	62	22	5	89
May 2021	80	25	2	107
Jun 2021	75	19	0	94
Jul 2021	125	19	1	145
Aug 2021	54	18	1	73
Sep 2021	64	13	0	77
Oct 2021	70	47	0	117
Nov 2021	69	43	5	117
Dec 2021	67	17	0	84
Jan 2022	69	20	3	92
Feb 2022	63	11	6	80
Mar 2022	61	19	2	82
Apr 2022	71	11	5	87
May 2022	49	5	0	54
Jun 2022	57	4	2	63
Jul 2022	69	6	0	75
Aug 2022	66	8	0	74
Sep 2022	63	10	1	74
Oct 2022	54	9	2	65
Nov 2022	82	13	0	95
Dec 2022	96	10	0	106
Jan 2023	114	27	1	142
Feb 2023	92	26	0	118
Mar 2023	115	34	2	151
Apr 2023	88	33	1	122
May 2023	95	14	0	109
Jun 2023	112	11	2	125
Jul 2023	113	7	1	121
Aug 2023	133	18	4	155
Sep 2023	137	25	2	164
Oct 2023	105	18	2	125
Nov 2023	51	8	0	59
Dec 2023	76	20	6	102
Jan 2024	66	30	2	98
Feb 2024	54	23	1	78
Mar 2024	93	25	2	120
Apr 2024	97	20	3	120
May 2024	37	25	1	63
Jun 2024	53	14	2	69
Jul 2024	27	31	7	65
Aug 2024	65	37	23	125
Sep 2024	31	14	3	48
Oct 2024	52	24	0	76
Nov 2024	67	15	3	85
Dec 2024	61	46	2	109
Jan 2025	49	23	1	73
Feb 2025	66	21	5	92
Mar 2025	50	21	7	78
Apr 2025	28	23	0	51
May 2025	66	17	2	85
Jun 2025	74	18	3	95
Jul 2025	57	21	1	79
Aug 2025	76	31	2	109
Sep 2025	76	26	1	103
Oct 2025	68	48	2	118
Nov 2025	13	11	0	24

Latest update: 08 Nov 2025

Short summary

Land surface models (LSMs) describe how carbon and water fluxes react to environmental change. They are key component of climate models, yet they differ enormously. Many perform poorly, despite having many parameters. We outline a development strategy emphasizing robustness, reliability and realism, none of which is guaranteed by complexity alone. We propose multiple constraints, benchmarking and data assimilation, and representing unresolved processes stochastically, as tools in this endeavour.