Land-atmosphere interactions include a variety of critical feedbacks among radiative, hydrological, and biogeochemical processes resulting in complex exchanges of energy and matter that influence the overall Earth system and its climate.

In the last few years, Earth observation (EO) data integrated with in situ networks and within suitable models have demonstrated the potential to become a major tool for observing key variables and characterizing main processes governing land-atmosphere interactions at global to local scales.

The increasing number of EO missions and the advances in modelling and data assimilation approaches are opening a significant potential for novel scientific results. However, the full exploitation of this capacity requires coordinated international efforts to develop robust geo-information products that may exploit the synergies offered by the increasing number of EO missions that are relevant for the iLEAPS community.

This session, jointly organised by iLEAPS and ESA, focuses on novel research activities and developments exploiting and integrating EO data, in situ observations and coupled models for increasing the scientific understanding of main land-atmosphere interactions and their impacts on the Earth system and climate. In particular the session aims at:

(1) Assessing recent progresses and uncertainties in the full range of iLEAPS relevant observations;

(2) Identifying the main needs and uncertainties in modelling and data assimilation to integrate EO-derived products for improving our ability to quantify future changes in land-atmosphere processes;

(3) Highlighting challenges and scientific gaps to advance in land-atmosphere interactions science.