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Land surface models used in climate models neglect the roughness sublayer and parameterize within-canopy turbulence in an ad hoc manner. We implemented a roughness sublayer turbulence parameterization in a multi-layer canopy model (CLM-ml v0) test if this theory provides a tractable parameterization extending from the ground through the canopy and the roughness sublayer. We compared the canopy model with the Community Land Model (CLM4.5) at 7 forest, 2 grassland, and 3 cropland AmeriFlux sites over a range of canopy height, leaf area index, and climate. The CLM4.5 has pronounced biases during summer months at forest sites in mid-day latent heat flux, sensible heat flux, and gross primary production, nighttime friction velocity, and the radiative temperature diurnal range. The new canopy model reduces these biases by introducing new physics. The signature of the roughness sublayer is most evident in sensible heat flux, friction velocity, and the diurnal cycle of radiative temperature. Within-canopy temperature profiles are markedly different compared with profiles obtained using Monin-Obukhov similarity theory, and the roughness sublayer produces cooler daytime and warmer nighttime temperatures. The herbaceous sites also show model improvements, but the improvements are related less systematically to the roughness sublayer parameterization in these short canopies. The multi-layer canopy with the roughness sublayer turbulence improves simulations compared with the CLM4.5 while also advancing the theoretical basis for surface flux parameterizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]