Parameterization Schemes of Land-Surface Processes for Mesoscale Atmospheric Models

For approximately the last 20 years the incentive for developing advanced parameterizations of land-surface processes has been provided by the great issues of climate modeling: Are we able to monitor the short-term global water budget of the planet and its long-term global change? However, mesoscale modelers have long been aware of the importance of correctly specifying the surface energy budget that forms the lower boundary condition of their models, since the thermal circulations that are induced by the spatial variability of the heat and moisture fluxes into the atmosphere are an integral part of mesoscale meteorology.