A new diagnostic metric based on soil moisture bimodality is developed in order to examine and compare soil moisture from satellite observations and Earth System Models. The methodology to derive this diagnostic is based on maximum likelihood estimator encoded into an iterative algorithm, which is applied to the soil moisture probability density function. This metric is applied to satellite data from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for the Earth Observing System and global climate models data from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5). Results show high soil moisture bimodality in transitional climate areas and high latitudes, potentially associated with land\uffe2\uff80\uff90atmosphere feedback processes. When comparing satellite versus climate models, a clear difference in their soil moisture bimodality is observed, with systematically higher values in the case of CMIP5 models. These differences appear related to areas where land\uffe2\uff80\uff90atmospheric feedback may be overestimated in current climate models.
", "keywords": ["PREFERENTIAL STATES", "IMPACT", "MIXTURE", "SCHEME", "0207 environmental engineering", "NORMAL-DISTRIBUTIONS", "02 engineering and technology", "15. Life on land", "01 natural sciences", "PART I", "satellite soil moisture", "climate models", "13. Climate action", "Earth and Environmental Sciences", "LAND-SURFACE MODEL", "PRECIPITATION", "SDG 13 - Climate Action", "CMIP5", "ATMOSPHERE COUPLING EXPERIMENT", "land-atmosphere interactions", "soil moisture", "bimodality", "SYSTEM", "0105 earth and related environmental sciences"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/2016JD026099"}, {"href": "https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JD026099"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Journal%20of%20Geophysical%20Research%3A%20Atmospheres", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1002/2016JD026099", "name": "item", "description": "10.1002/2016JD026099", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1002/2016JD026099"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2017-04-27T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1098/rstb.2018.0243", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-07-27T16:19:10Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2019-06-03", "title": "Convergent evolution inArabidopsis halleriandArabidopsis arenosaon calamine metalliferous soils", "description": "It is a plausible hypothesis that parallel adaptation events to the same environmental challenge should result in genetic changes of similar or identical effects, depending on the underlying fitness landscapes. However, systematic testing of this is scarce. Here we examine this hypothesis in two closely related plant species,Arabidopsis halleriandArabidopsis arenosa, which co-occur at two calamine metalliferous (M) sites harbouring toxic levels of the heavy metals zinc and cadmium. We conduct individual genome resequencing alongside soil elemental analysis for 64 plants from eight populations on M and non-metalliferous (NM) soils, and identify genomic footprints of selection and local adaptation. Selective sweep and environmental association analyses indicate a modest degree of gene as well as functional network convergence, whereby the proximal molecular factors mediating this convergence mostly differ between site pairs and species. Notably, we observe repeated selection on identical single nucleotide polymorphisms in severalA. hallerigenes at two independently colonized M sites. Our data suggest that species-specific metal handling and other biological features could explain a low degree of convergence between species. The parallel establishment of plant populations on calamine M soils involves convergent evolution, which will probably be more pervasive across sites purposely chosen for maximal similarity in soil composition.
This article is part of the theme issue \uffe2\uff80\uff98Convergent evolution in the genomics era: new insights and directions\uffe2\uff80\uff99.The land biosphere is a crucial component of the Earth system that interacts with the atmosphere in a complex manner through manifold feedback processes. These relationships are bidirectional, as climate affects our terrestrial ecosystems, which, in turn, influence climate. Great progress has been made in understanding the local interactions between the terrestrial biosphere and climate, but influences from remote regions through energy and water influxes to downwind ecosystems remain less explored. Using a Lagrangian trajectory model driven by atmospheric reanalysis data, we show how heat and moisture advection affect gross carbon production at interannual scales and in different ecoregions across the globe. For water\uffe2\uff80\uff90limited regions, results show a detrimental effect on ecosystem productivity during periods of enhanced heat and reduced moisture advection. These periods are typically associated with winds that disproportionately come from continental source regions, as well as positive sensible heat flux and negative latent heat flux anomalies in those upwind locations. Our results underline the vulnerability of ecosystems to the occurrence of upwind climatic extremes and highlight the importance of the latter for the spatiotemporal propagation of ecosystem disturbances.
", "keywords": ["Agriculture and Food Sciences", "LAND", "DISPERSION MODEL FLEXPART", "atmospheric advection", "Climate Change", "drought", "01 natural sciences", "CARBON", "ENTRAINMENT", "SURFACE EVAPORATION", "Ecosystem", "0105 earth and related environmental sciences", "CLIMATE-CHANGE", "Atmosphere", "Water", "Original Articles", "Models", " Theoretical", "15. Life on land", "PART I", "13. Climate action", "PRECIPITATION", "EUROPE-WIDE REDUCTION", "land-atmosphere interactions", "Seasons", "ecosystems", "terrestrial carbon cycle", "PRIMARY PRODUCTIVITY"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.14357"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Annals%20of%20the%20New%20York%20Academy%20of%20Sciences", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1111/nyas.14357", "name": "item", "description": "10.1111/nyas.14357", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1111/nyas.14357"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2020-05-07T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.5194/gmd-12-2139-2019", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-07-27T16:22:49Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2019-05-29", "title": "Atmospheric boundary layer dynamics from balloon soundings worldwide: CLASS4GL v1.0", "description": "Abstract. The coupling between soil, vegetation and atmosphere is thought to be crucial in the development and intensification of weather extremes, especially meteorological droughts, heat waves and severe storms. Therefore, understanding the evolution of the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) and the role of land\uffe2\uff80\uff93atmosphere feedbacks is necessary for earlier warnings, better climate projection and timely societal adaptation. However, this understanding is hampered by the difficulties of attributing cause\uffe2\uff80\uff93effect relationships from complex coupled models and the irregular space\uffe2\uff80\uff93time distribution of in situ observations of the land\uffe2\uff80\uff93atmosphere system. As such, there is a need for simple deterministic appraisals that systematically discriminate land\uffe2\uff80\uff93atmosphere interactions from observed weather phenomena over large domains and climatological time spans. Here, we present a new interactive data platform to study the behavior of the ABL and land\uffe2\uff80\uff93atmosphere interactions based on worldwide weather balloon soundings and an ABL model. This software tool \uffe2\uff80\uff93 referred to as CLASS4GL (http://class4gl.eu, last access: 27\uffc2\uffa0May\uffc2\uffa02018) \uffe2\uff80\uff93 is developed with the objectives of (a)\uffc2\uffa0mining appropriate global observational data from \uffe2\uff88\uffbc15\uffc2\uffa0million weather balloon soundings since 1981 and combining them with satellite and reanalysis data and (b)\uffc2\uffa0constraining and initializing a numerical model of the daytime evolution of the ABL that serves as a tool to interpret these observations mechanistically and deterministically. As a result, it fully automizes extensive global model experiments to assess the effects of land and atmospheric conditions on the ABL evolution as observed in different climate regions around the world. The suitability of the set of observations, model formulations and global parameters employed by CLASS4GL is extensively validated. In most cases, the framework is able to realistically reproduce the observed daytime response of the mixed-layer height, potential temperature and specific humidity from the balloon soundings. In this extensive global validation exercise, a bias of 10.1\uffe2\uff80\uff89m\uffe2\uff80\uff89h\uffe2\uff88\uff921, \uffe2\uff88\uff920.036\uffe2\uff80\uff89K\uffe2\uff80\uff89h\uffe2\uff88\uff921 and 0.06\uffe2\uff80\uff89g\uffe2\uff80\uff89kg\uffe2\uff88\uff921\uffe2\uff80\uff89h\uffe2\uff88\uff921 is found for the morning-to-afternoon evolution of the mixed-layer height, potential temperature and specific humidity. The virtual tool is in continuous development and aims to foster a better process understanding of the drivers of the ABL evolution and their global distribution, particularly during the onset and amplification of weather extremes. Finally, it can also be used to scrutinize the representation of land\uffe2\uff80\uff93atmosphere feedbacks and ABL dynamics in Earth system models, numerical weather prediction models, atmospheric reanalysis and satellite retrievals, with the ultimate goal of improving local climate projections, providing earlier warning of extreme weather and fostering a more effective development of climate adaptation strategies. The tool can be easily downloaded via http://class4gl.eu (last access: 27\uffc2\uffa0May\uffc2\uffa02018) and is open source.
", "keywords": ["PARAMETRIZATION", "LAND", "PARAMETERIZATION", "QE1-996.5", "COUPLING EXPERIMENT", "Geology", "15. Life on land", "FOREST", "01 natural sciences", "PART I", "13. Climate action", "Earth and Environmental Sciences", "SURFACE EVAPORATION", "PRECIPITATION", "Life Science", "TEMPERATURE", "DROUGHT", "0105 earth and related environmental sciences"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://gmd.copernicus.org/articles/12/2139/2019/gmd-12-2139-2019.pdf"}, {"href": "https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-2139-2019"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Geoscientific%20Model%20Development", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.5194/gmd-12-2139-2019", "name": "item", "description": "10.5194/gmd-12-2139-2019", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.5194/gmd-12-2139-2019"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2019-03-06T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "20.500.11850/345383", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"license": "Open Access", "updated": "2026-07-27T16:26:43Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2019-06-03", "title": "Convergent evolution in Arabidopsis halleri and Arabidopsis arenosa on calamine metalliferous soils", "description": "It is a plausible hypothesis that parallel adaptation events to the same environmental challenge should result in genetic changes of similar or identical effects, depending on the underlying fitness landscapes. However, systematic testing of this is scarce. Here we examine this hypothesis in two closely related plant species, Arabidopsis halleri and Arabidopsis arenosa , which co-occur at two calamine metalliferous (M) sites harbouring toxic levels of the heavy metals zinc and cadmium. We conduct individual genome resequencing alongside soil elemental analysis for 64 plants from eight populations on M and non-metalliferous (NM) soils, and identify genomic footprints of selection and local adaptation. Selective sweep and environmental association analyses indicate a modest degree of gene as well as functional network convergence, whereby the proximal molecular factors mediating this convergence mostly differ between site pairs and species. Notably, we observe repeated selection on identical single nucleotide polymorphisms in several A. halleri genes at two independently colonized M sites. Our data suggest that species-specific metal handling and other biological features could explain a low degree of convergence between species. The parallel establishment of plant populations on calamine M soils involves convergent evolution, which will probably be more pervasive across sites purposely chosen for maximal similarity in soil composition.
This article is part of the theme issue \uffe2\uff80\uff98Convergent evolution in the genomics era: new insights and directions\uffe2\uff80\uff99.