TO PREDICT MORE ACCURATELY THE IMPORTANT REGIONAL VARIATIONS IN THE EFFECTS OF CHANGING CLIMATE. TO PROVIDE INFORMATION ON SOIL WATER DEFICITS IN VARIOUS EUROPEAN REGIONS FOR THE PURPOSE OF STUDYING DESERTIFICATION AND RELATED PROBLEMS.

THE PROJECT INVOLVES FOUR MAIN COMPONENTS :

(A) THE STUDY OF THE ROLE OF SOIL MOISTURE IN LAND SURFACE PROCESSES AT VARIOUS SCALES, FROM THE POINT SCALE OF SOIL PHYSICS TO THE GLOBAL SCALE OF GENERAL CIRCULATION MODELS;

(B) THE COMPARISON OF THE FEASIBILITY AND REALIABILITY OF VARIOUS MACRO-SCALE MODELS OF LAND SURFACE PROCESSES INVOLVING VARYING DEGREES OF PARAMETERISATION OF SMALLER SCALE PROCESSES;

(C) AN EXAMINATION OF THE DIRECT USE OF REMOTELY SENSED SOIL MOISTURE PARAMETERS IN CLIMATE MODELS;

(D) ASSESSMENT OF THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RESULTS FOR DESERTIFICATION AND RELATED PROBLEMS IN EUROPE.

THE LMD GROUP WOULD IMPROVE THE EXISTING AND DEVELOP NEW PARAMETIZATION SCHEMES OF LAND SURFACE PROCESSES IN GENERAL CIRCULATION MODELS IN COOPERATION WITH HAPEX AND OTHER PROJECT COMPONENTS.HAPEX RESULTS WILL ALSO BE USED FOR THE STUDY OF CLIMATE SENSITIVITY AND VARIATION OF VEGETATION COVER.MODEL CALCULATIONS WOULD BE PERFORMED OF THE INTERCEPTION AND THE STORAGE OF LIQUID WATER BY THE VEGETATION AND THE RUN-OFF WOULD BE TREATED AS A FUNCTION OF SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE PRECIPITATION.THE MODEL WOULD BE USED WITH A VERY HIGH RESOLUTION FOR A BETTER DEFINITION OF SOIL CONDITIONS IN WESTERN EUROPE.