Kiałka et al. (2026) Subgrid parametrizations mediate the large‐scale effects of soil macroporosity on the water cycle in the ORCHIDEE land surface model

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Identification

• Journal: Vadose Zone Journal
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-09-01
• Authors: Filip Kiałka, Vladislav Bastrikov, Omar Flores, Kim Naudts, Sebastiaan Luyssaert, Bertrand Guenet
• DOI: 10.1002/vzj2.70136

Research Groups

• Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement (LSCE)
• Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES)

Short Summary

This study investigates the impact of soil macroporosity on large-scale land surface processes and finds that accounting for subgrid variabilities of soil hydraulic properties or precipitation can counteract scale-induced suppression of soil-structural effects.

Objective

• Investigate the role of soil macroporosity in mediating the effects of soil structure on large-scale land surface processes

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Global, with a focus on 100-km grid cells typical for land surface models
• Temporal Scale: Daily to annual time scales, with a focus on the impact of precipitation intensity and frequency on soil hydraulic properties

Methodology and Data

• Models used: ORCHIDEE land surface model
• Data sources: Satellite observations, reanalysis datasets (e.g., ERA5)

Main Results

• Accounting for subgrid variabilities of soil hydraulic properties or precipitation can counteract scale-induced suppression of soil-structural effects on large-scale land surface processes.
• Soil macroporosity has a significant impact on global runoff and soil moisture in ORCHIDEE, with an effect size an order of magnitude larger than previously reported.
• The effect of macroporosity on soil moisture is large enough to cause statistically significant regional atmospheric cooling in coupled land-atmosphere runs.

Contributions

• This study provides new insights into the role of soil structure at large scales and highlights the importance of representing subgrid variabilities of soil hydraulic properties or precipitation in land surface models.
• The results have implications for improving the representation of soil processes in climate models and better understanding the interactions between land surface and atmosphere.

Funding

• This research was supported by the European Research Council (ERC) under grant agreement no. 725273, as well as funding from the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS).

Citation

@article{Kiałka2026Subgrid,
  author = {Kiałka, Filip and Bastrikov, Vladislav and Flores, Omar and Naudts, Kim and Luyssaert, Sebastiaan and Guenet, Bertrand},
  title = {Subgrid parametrizations mediate the large‐scale effects of soil macroporosity on the water cycle in the ORCHIDEE land surface model},
  journal = {Vadose Zone Journal},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1002/vzj2.70136},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1002/vzj2.70136}
}