Some climate models still represent cities as if they were natural ground. For one of these models, we built a new way to represent cities. The update includes how reflective surfaces are, building height, stored heat, and how much ground is sealed. The novelty is to treat sealed ground not only at the surface, but also below it. Tested at twenty urban sites, the new version better represents exchanges of energy between the ground and the air, supporting more reliable urban climate studies.

Explore2 provides hydrological projections for 1,735 French catchments. Using QUALYPSO (Quasi-Ergodic Analysis of Climate Projections Using Data Augmentation), this study assesses uncertainties, including internal variability. By the end of the century, low flows are projected to decline in southern France under high emissions, while other indicators remain uncertain. Emission scenarios and regional climate models are key uncertainty sources. Internal variability is often as large as climate-driven changes.

The evolution of irrigation under climate change is analyzed between 1950 and 2100. Results indicate that the influence of irrigation on evapotranspiration in irrigated areas increases in the future (compared to an historical period). Also, the effect of irrigation on water resources is also higher in the future than in the historical period. Finally, we identify areas where future hydroclimate conditions can limit irrigation, or areas where irrigation can increase tensions around water use.

Soil organic carbon stockage is a key process to mitigate climate change and is intertwined with soil temperature and moisture and of other secondary soil properties. This study shows the significance of secondary drivers in the relationship between soil moisture and microbial efficiency in soil organic carbon degradation. Using empirical relationships in a global ecosystem model enhanced significantly the heterogeneous spatial pattern of soil organic carbon stock and carbon dioxide fluxes.

This study analyses simulations of regional climate over the Iberian Peninsula, with and without an explicit simulation of irrigation. It shows that the model matches observations much better with irrigation, particularly river discharge and evapotranspiration. The presence of simulated irrigation also makes the air cooler over irrigated areas and more humid over the whole Peninsula, leading to increases in rainfall, mostly located in the mountains that surround the highly irrigated Ebro Valley.