Abstract:
The Community Land Model is the land model for the Community Climate System
Model (CCSM) and the Community Atmosphere Model (CAM). It is a collaborative
project between scientists in the Terrestrial Sciences Section of the Climate
and Global Dynamics Division (CGD) at the National Center for Atmospheric
Research (NCAR) and the CCSM Land Model Working Group. Other principal
... working
groups that also contribute to the CLM are Biogeochemistry, Paleoclimate, and
Climate Change and Assessment.
The model formalizes and quantifies concepts of ecological climatology.
Ecological climatology is an interdisciplinary framework to understand how
natural and human changes in vegetation affect climate. It examines the
physical, chemical, and biological processes by which terrestrial ecosystems
affect and are affected by climate across a variety of spatial and temporal
scales. The central theme is that terrestrial ecosystems, through their cycling
of energy, water, chemical elements, and trace gases, are important
determinants of climate.
The model has several components:
- Biogeophysics
- Hydrologic cycle
- Biogeochemistry
- Dynamic vegetation
http://www.cgd.ucar.edu/tss/clm/ 
