This paper focuses on studying the roles of land-surface processes
and the two-way interactions between regional and large-scale processes in the seasonal to interannual variability of the
atmosphere in the Americas.
Our approach is to conduct experiments with a coupled land-atmosphere general circulation model using prescribed sea surface temperatures. In this study we use a state-of-the-art land-surface model combined with a variable-resolution, stretched-horizontal-grid atmospheric general circulation model. The land-surface model includes the controls exerted by vegetation on the surface energy and water budgets, as well as a representation of the sub-grid variability in land cover. The stretched-grid approach allows the use of fine horizontal resolution in the region of interest with increasingly coarser resolution elsewhere. This approach will allow the study of the role of the two-way interactions between regional (e.g., land use and vegetation cover) and large-scale processes in determining the seasonal to interannual variability of the atmosphere in the Americas.