The evolution of, and revolution in, land surface schemes designed for climate models

Abstract The land surface is a key component of climate models. It controls the partitioning of available energy at the surface between sensible and latent heat, and it controls the partitioning of available water between evaporation and runoff. The land surface is also the location of the terrestrial carbon sink. Evidence is increasing that the influence of the land surface is significant on climate and that changes in the land surface can influence regional‐ to global‐scale climate on time scales from days to millennia. Further, there is now a suggestion that the terrestrial carbon sink may decrease as global temperatures increase as a consequence of rising CO 2 levels. This paper provides the theoretical…