Land-climate interactions

Please follow this link for the course information retrieved from the ETH semester programme.

The purpose of this course is to provide an overview on the role of land processes (vegetation and soil moisture dynamics, land-atmosphere exchanges) for the climate system. The course consists of 2 contact hours per week (Tue 1-3pm, ML E 12), and include four exercise lectures (Computer room, HG E26.1 or HG E26.3).

Schedule

• 18.09.2012: 1) Introduction (pdf; review paper)
• 25.09.2012: 2) Land surface modeling 1 (pdf)
• 02.10.2012: 3) Land surface modeling 2 (pdf)
• 09.10.2012: Exercise 1: Land surface modeling I [HG E 26.3] (exercise sheet ; matlab files ; solution sheet)
• 16.10.2012: Exercise 2: Land surface modeling II [HG E 26.3] (exercise sheet ; files ; solution sheet )
• 23.10.2012: 4) Measurements and observations 1 (final pdf)
• 30.10.2012: 5) Measurements and observations 2 (pdf)
• 06.11.2012: 6) Soil moisture-temperature coupling (pdf)
• 13.11.2012: 7) Soil moisture-precipitation coupling, Soil moisture memory (pdf)
• 20.11.2012: Exercise 3: Land-climate feedbacks [HG E 26.3] (exercise sheet ; EVO online exercise ; Paper Forest/grassland ; solution sheet)
• 27.11.2012: 8) Land albedo- and land cover-climate feedbacks (pdf)
• 04.12.2012: 9) Land-mediated biogeochemical feedbacks on climate (pdf)
• 11.12.2012: Exercise 4: Daisy world, complex feedbacks [HG E 26.3] (exercise sheet ; matlab file; Paper Watson and Lovelock; solution sheet)
• 18.12.2012: 10) Conclusions, outlook, current research questions (pdf; diagram feedback processes)

Articles recommended for further reading

• Arneth et al, Nature Geoscience, 2010: Terrestrial biogeochemical feedbacks in the climate system.
• Bonan, Science, 2008: Forests and climate change: Forcings, feedbacks, and the climate benefits of forests.
• Ciais et al, Nature, 2005: Europe-wide reduction in primary productivity caused by the heat and drought in 2003.
• Dirmeyer et al, BAMS, 2006: GSWP-2 multimodel analysis and implications for our perception of the land surface.
• Findell and Eltahir, J. Hydrometeorology, 2003: Atmospheric Controls on Soil Moisture–Boundary Layer Interactions. Part I: Framework Development.
• Friedlingstein et al, J. Climate, 2006: Climate–carbon cycle feedback analysis: Results from the C4MIP model intercomparison.
• Hirschi et al, Nature Geoscience, 2011: Observational evidence for soil-moisture impact on hot extremes in southeastern Europe.
• Jung et al, Nature, 2010: Recent decline in the global land evapotranspiration trend due to limited moisture supply.
• Koster et al, Science, 2004: Regions of strong coupling between soil moisture and precipitation.
• Koster et al, J. Hydrometeorology, 2011: The second phase of the Global Land–Atmosphere Coupling Experiment: Soil moisture contributions to subseasonal forecast skill.
• Lenton et al, PNAS, 2008: Tipping elements in the Earth’s climate system.
• Malhi et al, Science, 2008: Climate change, deforestation, and the fate of the Amazon.
• Morgan et al, Nature, 2011: C4 grasses prosper as carbon dioxide eliminates desiccation in warmed semi-arid grassland.
• Mueller and Seneviratne, PNAS, 2012: Hot days induced by precipitation deficits at the global scale.
• Norby et al, PNAS, 2010: CO2 enhancement of forest productivity constrained by limited nitrogen availability.
• Pitman et al, Geophys. Res. Let., 2009: Uncertainties in climate responses to past land cover change: First results from the LUCID intercomparison study.
• Scheffer et al, Nature, 2009: Early-warning signals for critical transitions.
• Sellers et al, Science, 1997: Modeling the exchanges of energy, water, and carbon between continents and the atmosphere.
• Seneviratne et al, Nature, 2006: Land–atmosphere coupling and climate change in Europe.
• Seneviratne et al, Earth-Science Reviews, 2010: Investigating soil moisture–climate interactions in a changing climate: A review.
• Taylor et al, Nature, 2012: Afternoon rain more likely over dry soils.
• Van der Ent et al, Water Resources Research, 2010: Origin and fate of atmospheric moisture over continents.

Contact

Overall lecture: Sonia Seneviratne
Lectures 2 & 3: Edouard Davin
Lecture 5: Lukas Gudmundsson
Exercises: Benoît Guillod, Peter Greve