Land-atmosphere coupling modulates the exchange of water, heat and carbon between the land surface and the atmosphere. Therefore, it can dampen or exacerbate climate extremes (e.g., heat waves and droughts) and affect ecosystem processes (e.g., the land carbon sink). However, there are several key aspects related to uncertainties that hinder the accurate quantification of land-atmosphere coupling. Firstly, different metrics/indices can be used to describe (aspects of) land-atmosphere coupling, introducing uncertainties between the respective estimates. Secondly, an increasing amount of data describing land-atmosphere coupling is available, together with increasingly powerful methods for analysing them. In response to this, a more thorough consideration of uncertainty stemming from data and methods is critical in interpreting the robustness of emerging patterns. Lastly, physical processes underlying land-atmosphere coupling occur on different spatiotemporal scales ranging from in-situ to the regional scale and from seconds to months, which may or may not be reflected in the data we use to study them, in turn further inducing uncertainties.
Only by considering these aspects it is possible to determine accurately where available information is (not) sufficient to draw robust conclusions. Addressing the uncertainty challenge aims at a more precise identification of e.g. accurate observational constraints for process-based modelling or a more accurate determination of the role of land-atmosphere interactions for changes in (surface) weather and climate.
We invite abstracts that quantify uncertainties of various origins relevant for studying land-atmosphere interactions, including but not limited to inter- and intracomparisons of observations and model output, evaluations across spatiotemporal scales, and assessments of variables capturing surface carbon or water fluxes and indices/metrics.
We are especially interested in abstracts that move beyond solely quantifying the uncertainties, but motivate us to address and reconcile them and abstracts focusing on the implications of uncertainties related to land-atmosphere interactions on the evolution and location of extremes, carbon processes or the location of land-atmosphere coupling hot spots, among others.