Exploring Land Management Impacts on Extreme Weather Events: Cover Cropping in ICON-MPIM

Cover cropping is increasingly recognized as a sustainable land management strategy with potential biophysical and biogeochemical climate implications. Although managed lands cover up to  70% of the Earth's ice-free land surface, their representation in Earth system models (ESMs) remains limited. This study integrates cover cropping into the global climate model ICON-MPIM to investigate its impacts on extreme weather events through biophysical effects on the atmosphere.

We analyze how the integration of idealized cover cropping alters surface properties, water and energy fluxes, and atmospheric processes, with a focus on extreme events such as droughts and heat waves. Preliminary results over Europe reveal a decrease in annual mean 2m air temperatures over eastern Europe but an increase over western Europe, with strong seasonal variations. Conversely, the maximum daily air temperature pattern shows the opposite trend, with increases over eastern Europe and decreases over western Europe. Moreover, remote changes, for example in 2m air temperature or maximum daily air temperature, also occur in regions where no cover crops are grown, such as in the tropics and polar regions or the ocean. These findings suggest that the climate response to cover cropping is highly heterogeneous, emphasizing the importance of considering both spatial and temporal dynamics.

This approach represents a first step toward exploring the theoretical potential of cover cropping to influence climate dynamics and extreme events while recognizing the limitations of the model's representation of agricultural management practices. By addressing land management in a generalized yet systematic manner, this study contributes to an improved understanding of the influence of land management on land-atmosphere interactions and provides a basis for future research on the role of managed lands in climate systems.