WP2 - Land processes

Processes happening at the land-surface, like permafrost thaw, are currently a major source of uncertainty in the response of the Earth system to human-induced greenhouse gas and aerosols emissions. Improving our understanding and representation in models of these land feedbacks is crucial for delivering accurate estimates of climate change and carbon uptake.

In this work package (WP), we aim to improve the representation by ESM land surface models of processes leading to terrestrial emissions of N₂O, CH₄, CO₂, aerosols and aerosols precursors. We will ensure the land surface and vegetation models accurately represent human land-use processes (link with WP10). These models will be used to explore new couplings and feedbacks in the ESMs (in Core  Theme 2) and to inform the reduced complexity carbon-climate model OS-MAGICC used in WP11 and 12.

Our overall objective is to improve the representation of land surface processes that have a significant impact on climate. It is subdivided in four tasks aiming at 1) implementing the representation of key processes responsible of CH₄ and N₂O emissions; 2) implementing the representation of processes responsible for emission of fire and BVOCs aerosols; 3) improving the response of the vegetation to increasing atmospheric CO₂ and nutrient availability; and 4) evaluating the added values of these model developments.

Institutions involved: Météo-France and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS-IPSL) are involved in all four tasks and are responsible of the coordination; Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften (MPG) is involved in tasks 1, 2 and 4; Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) is involved in tasks 1 and 4; Meteorologisk Institutt (MetNo) is involved in tasks 2; the University of Exeter (UNEXE) is involved in tasks 3 and 4; Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR), Sveriges meteorologiska och hydrologiska institut (SMHI) and Met Office are involved in task 4.