Vrese et al. (2026) T-REX: the tile-based representation of lateral exchange processes in ICON-Land

Identification

• Journal: Geoscientific model development
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-09-29
• Authors: Philipp de Vrese, Tobias Stacke, Veronika Gayler, Helena Bergstedt, Clemens von Baeckmann, Melanie A. Thurner, Christian Beer, Victor A. Brovkin
• DOI: 10.5194/gmd-19-9203-2026

Research Groups

• Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Climate Dynamics, Hamburg, Germany
• b.geos, Korneuburg, Austria
• Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research – Atmospheric Environmental Research, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany
• Universität Hamburg, Department of Earth System Sciences, Hamburg, Germany
• Universität Hamburg, Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability (CEN), Hamburg, Germany

Short Summary

This study presents a new scheme for representing lateral exchange processes in heterogeneous landscapes, called T-REX. The scheme is designed to capture the effects of subgrid-scale spatial heterogeneity on land-surface properties and includes five lateral exchange processes that can be categorized by transported quantity, scale, and mechanism.

Objective

• To develop a tile-based representation of lateral exchange processes in ICON-Land, the land surface component of the ICON framework.
• To investigate the effects of lateral subgrid-scale fluxes on the terrestrial water storage and the resulting impact on turbulent land-atmosphere exchange and the state of the surface.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: The scheme is designed to capture spatial variability at a range of length-scales, from meters to kilometers.
• Temporal Scale: The study focuses on the effects of lateral subgrid-scale fluxes on the terrestrial water storage and the resulting impact on turbulent land-atmosphere exchange and the state of the surface.

Methodology and Data

• Models used: ICON-Land, a land surface component of the ICON framework.
• Data sources: The study uses a combination of observational data and model outputs to evaluate the effects of lateral subgrid-scale fluxes on the terrestrial water storage and the resulting impact on turbulent land-atmosphere exchange and the state of the surface.

Main Results

• The results suggest that lateral exchange processes, especially on small horizontal scales, are highly relevant for the spatial variability in soil temperatures and for the simulated extent of surface water bodies.
• The effects on the grid-cell mean state and the turbulent exchange with the atmosphere appear to be largely negligible.

Contributions

• This study presents a new scheme for representing lateral exchange processes in heterogeneous landscapes, which can capture the effects of subgrid-scale spatial heterogeneity on land-surface properties.
• The results highlight the importance of considering lateral exchange processes in models of terrestrial water storage and turbulent land-atmosphere exchange.

Funding

• This research was funded by the Max Planck Society and the German Research Foundation (DFG).

Citation

@article{Vrese2026TREX,
  author = {Vrese, Philipp de and Stacke, Tobias and Gayler, Veronika and Bergstedt, Helena and Baeckmann, Clemens von and Thurner, Melanie A. and Beer, Christian and Brovkin, Victor A.},
  title = {T-REX: the tile-based representation of lateral exchange processes in ICON-Land},
  journal = {Geoscientific model development},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.5194/gmd-19-9203-2026},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-19-9203-2026}
}