This technique was used to obtain the most important land-surface characteristics for forcing climate. Results of this analysis indicate that for vegetated land, stomatal conductance and surface roughness are the two most important characteristics for forcing the atmosphere. For bare land, soil-surface wetness and surface roughness are most important. Albedo can also play a significant role in certain circumstances. It is important to point out that this analysis does not offer a priority list for all situations.
Different parameters are important under different atmospheric conditions.
In addition, this analysis assumes that parameters are independent, whereas in reality, they are related. For vegetated land, stomatal conductance and surface roughness are the two most important characteristics for forcing the atmosphere. For bare land, soil-surface wetness and surface roughness are most important. This assumes that the horizontal fluxes between different types of vegetation in the landscape are not important. Each system is resolved independently, and then an areal average of these is used to calculate the fluxes that come from the grid.