Last week SPECIAL Group PI Sandy Harrison led an exciting workshop at Dartington Hall on incorporating eco-evolutionary optimality (EEO) theory into land surface models (LSMs). Sandy and Sophia represented the SPECIAL Group during the meeting where they met and discussed the future of LSMs with leading scientists from around the world. The group gathered to take on one of the most complex and pressing challenges in Earth system science: how to make Land Surface Models (LSMs) more accurate, simpler and more robust. This three-day workshop, hosted by the LEMONTREE project, was an opportunity to share ideas, experiences, and visions for the future of modelling Earth’s land systems.
Image 1: Back row: Peter Cox (University of Exeter and Schmidt Sciences), Stefano Manzoni (Stockholm University), Marc Peaucelle (INRAE), Simon Jones (University of Exeter), Elsa Abs (LSCE). Second row: Ensheng Weng (Columbia University), Andrea Alessandri (CNR ISAC), Colin Prentice (Imperial College London), Wenjia (Shirley) Cai (Imperial College London), Martin Best (MET Office). Front row: Yingping Wang (CSIRO), Emilie Joetzjer (INRAE), Sandy Harrison (University of Reading), Jaideep Joshi (Indian Institute of Technology Bombay), Giulia Mengoli (CMCC), Philippe Ciais (LSCE), Sophia Cain (University of Reading). We were also joined by Elena Shevliakova online.
Day One: Setting a Common Ground
The workshop opened with a series of presentations by members of the LEMONTREE and CALIPSO teams, highlighting the progress and potential of integrating EEO into modelling frameworks.
Colin began by highlighting the successes of EEO applications in LEMONTREE. This was followed by presentations from Shirley, Jaideep and Giulia (LEMONTREE) and Stefano and Elsa (CALIPSO) on above- and below-ground modelling, plant hydraulics and plant demography. You can hear about some of these exciting developments in previous LEMONTREE blog posts!
The afternoon session shifted to perspectives from key land surface modelling groups. Peter, in his dual role as VESRI liaison and long-time modelling expert, offered a candid look at the challenges facing LSMs today. We then heard from Elena on GFDL, Ensheng on GISS, and Andrea on EC-Land—all underscoring the complexity and diversity of current modelling approaches.
Image 2: Peter Cox presenting to the team on the challenges we currently face with LSMs
Day Two: Tackling the Challenges Head-On
Day two began by completing the inventory of challenges. Yingping, Philippe, Martin and Emilie spoke on CABLE, ORCHIDEE, JULES and ISBA respectively. The day was then capped off with discussions identifying key priorities and issues within land-surface models. By the end of the day the group had clarified key challenges and opportunities and agreed to co-author a perspectives paper to guide future work.
Day Three: Perspective Paper in Progress
On day three, the group focused in on the themes of the perspectives paper. We hope that we will now be able to cover exciting topics such as above- and below-ground linkages, and how to incorporate process that function over multiple timescales. The challenge now lies in how best to articulate the value of EEO while addressing the realities of LSM development. Further, how to make the case that simplifying models through theory doesn’t necessarily mean sacrificing realism but enhancing it.
There is still much work to be done, but we are so grateful to the researchers who took time out of their busy schedule to attend and contribute to this workshop. We can’t wait to share the perspective paper soon!
Author note: This post has been adapted from the full blog post written by Natalie Sander for the LEMONTREE website here. All photo credits: Sophia Cain
Image 3: The grounds of Dartington Hall, Devon, UK.