Search

We describe the baseline model configuration and simulation characteristics of the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL)'s Land Model version 4.1 (LM4.1), which builds on component and coupled model developments over 2013–2019 for the coupled carbon‐chemistry‐climate Earth System Model Version 4.1 (ESM4.1) simulation as part of the sixth phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project. Analysis of ESM4.1/LM4.1 is focused on biophysical and biogeochemical processes and interactions with climate. Key features include advanced vegetation dynamics and multi‐layer canopy energy and moisture exchanges, daily fire, land use representation, and dynamic atmospheric dust coupling. We compare LM4.1 performance in the GFDL Earth System Model (ESM) configuration ESM4.1 to the previous generation component LM3.0 in the ESM2G configuration. ESM4.1/LM4.1 provides significant improvement in the treatment of ecological processes from GFDL's previous generation models. However, ESM4.1/LM4.1 likely overestimates the influence of land use and land cover change on vegetation characteristics, particularly on pasturelands, as it overestimates the competitiveness of grasses versus trees in the tropics, and as a result, underestimates present‐day biomass and carbon uptake in comparison to observations. Plain Language Summary: The Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) has developed a new Land Model (LM4.1) as part of its 4th generation coupled model development. This model includes advances from the previous generation and introduces a new vegetation demography model, multi‐layer canopy, plant hydraulics, fire, and land use representation as well as dynamic atmospheric dust coupling. Coupled within an Earth System Model (ESM4.1), LM4.1 features an improved representation of many ecological processes from the previous generation of GFDL ESMs. Key Points: A new land model LM4.1 is developed at the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) for the next‐generation Earth System Model (ESM) ESM4.1LM4.1 integrates age‐height structured vegetation dynamics, multi‐layer canopy‐soil‐snow energy exchanges, and prognostic fires and mineral dustESM4.1/LM4.1 improves patterns of land surface climate and carbon cycle compared to the previous generation GFDL model ESM2G/LM3.0 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]