The BASE land surface model

The Best Approximation of Surface Exchanges (BASE) land surface model is described in detail. BASE is designed for large-scale climate modelling and for investigation of inter-model parameterisation differences. It has a tiled surface structure with an explicit canopy layer through which the foliage, underlying ground and atmosphere interact. A three-layer diffusion scheme is used to model soil temperature, moisture and ice content. A slab model is used to represent snow.