MODELING THE EXCHANGES OF ENERGY, WATER, AND CARBON BETWEEN CONTINENTS AND THE ATMOSPHERE

Atmospheric general circulation models used for climate simulation and weather forecasting require the fluxes of radiation, heat, water vapo r, and momentum across the land-atmosphere interlace to be specified. These fluxes are calculated by submodels called land surface parameter izations. Over the last 20 years, these parameterizations have evolved from sim pie, unrealistic schemes into credible representations of th e global soil-vegetation-atmosphere transfer system as advances in pla nt physiological and hydrological research, advances in satellite data interpretation, and the results of large-scale field experiments have been exploited. Some modem schemes incorporate biogeochemical and eco logical knowledge and, when coupled with advanced climate and ocean mo dels, will be capable of modeling the biological and physical response s of the Earth system to global change, for example, increasing atmosp heric carbon dioxide.