The land surface controls the partitioning of water and energy fluxes and therefore plays a crucial role in the climate system. The coupling between soil moisture and air temperature, in particular, has been shown to affect the severity and occurrence of temperature extremes and heat waves. Here we study soil moisture\uffe2\uff80\uff90temperature coupling in five land surface models, focusing on the terrestrial segment of the coupling in the warm season. All models are run off\uffe2\uff80\uff90line over a common period with identical atmospheric forcing data, in order to allow differences in the results to be attributed to the models' partitioning of energy and water fluxes. Coupling is calculated according to two semiempirical metrics, and results are compared to observational flux tower data. Results show that the locations of the global hot spots of soil moisture\uffe2\uff80\uff90temperature coupling are similar across all models and for both metrics. In agreement with previous studies, these areas are located in transitional climate regimes. The magnitude and local patterns of model coupling, however, can vary considerably. Model coupling fields are compared to tower data, bearing in mind the limitations in the geographical distribution of flux towers and the differences in representative area of models and in situ data. Nevertheless, model coupling correlates in space with the tower\uffe2\uff80\uff90based results (r = 0.5\uffe2\uff80\uff930.7), with the multimodel mean performing similarly to the best\uffe2\uff80\uff90performing model. Intermodel differences are also found in the evaporative fractions and may relate to errors in model parameterizations and ancillary data of soil and vegetation characteristics.
", "keywords": ["ENVIRONMENT SIMULATOR JULES", "FLUXES", "0207 environmental engineering", "02 engineering and technology", "01 natural sciences", "CO2 EXCHANGE", "models", "WATER", "SCALE", "Research Articles", "0105 earth and related environmental sciences", "land surface", "CARBON-DIOXIDE EXCHANGE", "eartH2Observe", "temperature", "15. Life on land", "DECIDUOUS FOREST", "CLIMATE", "EVAPORATION", "VARIABILITY", "13. Climate action", "Earth and Environmental Sciences", "BALANCE", "land surface models", "SENSIBLE HEAT", "land-atmosphere interactions", "soil moisture"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/2017JD027346"}, {"href": "https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JD027346"}, {"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": "10.1002/2017JD027346", "name": "item", "description": "10.1002/2017JD027346", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1002/2017JD027346"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2018-02-01T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1002/2016JD026099", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-07-25T16:14:19Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2017-04-07", "title": "Global soil moisture bimodality in satellite observations and climate models", "description": "AbstractA 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": "10.1111/nyas.14357", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-07-25T16:19:07Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2020-05-08", "title": "Atmospheric heat and moisture transport to energy\u2010 and water\u2010limited ecosystems", "description": "AbstractThe 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"}}], "links": [{"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "This document as GeoJSON", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items?keywords=land-atmosphere+interactions&f=json", "hreflang": "en-US"}, {"rel": "alternate", "type": "text/html", "title": "This document as HTML", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items?keywords=land-atmosphere+interactions&f=html", "hreflang": "en-US"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection URL", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main", "hreflang": "en-US"}, {"type": "application/geo+json", "rel": "first", "title": "items (first)", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items?keywords=land-atmosphere+interactions&", "hreflang": "en-US"}, {"rel": "last", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "items (last)", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items?keywords=land-atmosphere+interactions&offset=3", "hreflang": "en-US"}], "numberMatched": 3, "numberReturned": 3, "distributedFeatures": [], "timeStamp": "2026-07-26T06:21:13.095598Z"}