Sim2DSphere: A novel modelling tool for the study of land surface interactions

Herein we present Sim2DSphere, an open-source software tool that offers a complete environment for mapping key parameters characterizing land surface interactions (LSIs) at varying spatiotemporal resolution using standard and freely available geospatial data. The tool has been developed in Java programming language as a stand-alone application. Its use is demonstrated herein using Earth Observation (EO) data products from ASTER satellite, acquired over a European site that belongs to a global in-situ monitoring network. Results obtained in overall confirmed Sim2DSphere’s ability to replicate the diurnal spatiotemporal variability of key LSIs parameters at the ecosystem and environmental conditions in which it was tested. We underline that the presented herein tool can be applied by the scientific community, managers and policy-makers as a form of acquiring technical and scientifically-based information for improving our understanding of LSIs and to achieve a more sustainable environment. In addition, the release of this new modelling tool contributes to advancing the deployment of geo-processing tools utilising the state of the art in EO data available today. The software tool systematic validation at variant testing conditions as well as further software developments to improve its use are between the key priorities of future work with it.