The Tyranny of Small Scales—On Representing Soil Processes in Global Land Surface Models

Abstract

AbstractThe representation of small‐scale soil and hydrological processes has been a challenge and a subject of debate since the pioneering work of Richardson and the dawn of numerical weather prediction. The recent leap to global scales with long‐term and large data offers new opportunities that place the long‐standing challenge of small‐scale representation in a more positive perspective. Global representation of soil processes requires evaluation of the origins of the information used for global models and the parameterization via the so‐called pedotransfer functions. Parameters and processes benefit from application of physical constraints while replacing empirical approximations with small‐scale physics adapted for large‐scale processes. We provide an overview of the present state and opportunities for hydrology and soil communities in contemporary well‐connected, observable, global, and big‐data realities.