This special issue arose from the “6th Workshop on Parameterization of lakes in Numerical Weather Prediction and Climate Modelling”. The workshop was held on 22–24 October 2019 at Météo-France (Toulouse, France): http://www.meteo.fr/cic/meetings/2019/LAKE2019/ .

The special issue “Modelling inland waters in a changing climate” is inviting contributions related to the following aspects of research on inland waters.

• Modelling – lake–atmosphere interactions and coupling (parameterization of lakes in numerical models of the atmosphere, the impact of lakes on atmospheric processes, greenhouse gases transfers); processes in freshwater bodies (including studies related to biochemistry and water quality issues, in frozen and not frozen conditions).
• Parameters – external parameters (raw data sets and generation of external-parameter fields required to use lake parameterization schemes in atmospheric models, e.g. fields of lake depth and lake fraction).
• Data assimilation – snow and ice on lakes, reservoirs and other water bodies (data assimilation of observations and parameterization of snow and ice layers over water surfaces in numerical weather prediction and climate models, interaction air–snow–ice–water); assimilation of observational data on lake surface state (space-borne and in situ observations of lake surface state, assimilation of observational data into atmospheric models using lake parameterization schemes).
• Model validation and intercomparison – validation of numerical weather prediction and climate models that incorporate lake parameterization and lake data assimilation schemes; single-column studies; intercomparison of lake models, e.g. within the framework of the Lake Model Intercomparison Project.
• Remote sensing – remote sensing can offer valuable data for studying lake changes and their interaction with their environment and the impact and feedback of climate change; altimeters provide dense time series of water surface elevation measurements, and multispectral optical, thermal and radar sensors can be used to measure lake area, water quality, temperature and ice cover; time series of satellite products are available for studies on lake changes from local to global scale, e.g. within the framework of the ESA CCI LAKES.
• ISIMIP initiative – the aim of the Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project (ISIMIP) is to better understand climate impacts across sectors using a multi-impact model framework; the second phase of this international effort (ISIMIP2b) is designed to provide robust information about the impacts of 1.5°C and 2°C global warming, as highlighted by the IPCC’s special report on this topic; scientists contributing simulations and analyses to ISIMIP will find a forum to share their results in this special issue.

The glacial–interglacial cyclicity of the climate system varied in the past, most notably during the transition from a 40 ka to a 100 ka world in the mid-Pleistocene. Gases trapped in Antarctic ice are the most direct access available to investigate the composition of the paleo-atmosphere of that age and processes related to climate variability. The International Partnerships in Ice Core Sciences (IPICS) Oldest Ice endeavour aims at obtaining an undisturbed ice-core record older than 1 Ma. In addition to ice cores, time slices of paleo-records, available, for example, in Antarctic blue-ice fields, provide further valuable information, which complements continuous time series based on ice cores. This special issue will assemble contributions dedicated to the preparatory phase of this global effort to obtain ice samples and time series older than 700 000 years. This includes a consideration of glaciogical and geophysical settings which allow the presence of old ice, results from pre-site surveys and modelling studies, aspects of ice-core and other sampling techniques and analyses, and requirements for drilling and core handling.

Reducing the uncertainty in the past, present, and future contribution of ice sheets to sea-level rise requires a coordinated effort between the climate and glaciology communities. The Ice Sheet Model Intercomparison Project for CMIP6 (ISMIP6) is the primary activity within the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) focusing on modeling the evolution of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. The ISMIP6 experimental design relies on CMIP climate models and includes, for the first time within CMIP, coupled ice-sheet-climate models as well as standalone ice sheet models. ISMIP6 provides a basis for investigating the feedbacks, impacts, and sea-level changes associated with dynamic ice sheets and for quantifying the uncertainty in ice sheet contribution to sea-level change. The goal of this special issue is to build an evolving volume of refereed and high-quality contributions focusing on both standalone ice sheet models and coupled ice sheet-climate models, as well as new developments to improve the representation of external forcings used by ice sheet models. Such a volume will serve as a unique open reference to the rapidly evolving field of numerical modeling of ice sheet flow of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets.

This special issue includes articles reporting results performed in the framework of ISMIP6, including improvements in ice sheet modeling, ice-climate interactions, or external forcings, as well as studies expounding on the ISMIP6 experimental protocol.

This special issue arose from the “6th Workshop on Parameterization of lakes in Numerical Weather Prediction and Climate Modelling”. The workshop was held on 22–24 October 2019 at Météo-France (Toulouse, France): http://www.meteo.fr/cic/meetings/2019/LAKE2019/ .

The special issue “Modelling inland waters in a changing climate” is inviting contributions related to the following aspects of research on inland waters.

• Modelling – lake–atmosphere interactions and coupling (parameterization of lakes in numerical models of the atmosphere, the impact of lakes on atmospheric processes, greenhouse gases transfers); processes in freshwater bodies (including studies related to biochemistry and water quality issues, in frozen and not frozen conditions).
• Parameters – external parameters (raw data sets and generation of external-parameter fields required to use lake parameterization schemes in atmospheric models, e.g. fields of lake depth and lake fraction).
• Data assimilation – snow and ice on lakes, reservoirs and other water bodies (data assimilation of observations and parameterization of snow and ice layers over water surfaces in numerical weather prediction and climate models, interaction air–snow–ice–water); assimilation of observational data on lake surface state (space-borne and in situ observations of lake surface state, assimilation of observational data into atmospheric models using lake parameterization schemes).
• Model validation and intercomparison – validation of numerical weather prediction and climate models that incorporate lake parameterization and lake data assimilation schemes; single-column studies; intercomparison of lake models, e.g. within the framework of the Lake Model Intercomparison Project.
• Remote sensing – remote sensing can offer valuable data for studying lake changes and their interaction with their environment and the impact and feedback of climate change; altimeters provide dense time series of water surface elevation measurements, and multispectral optical, thermal and radar sensors can be used to measure lake area, water quality, temperature and ice cover; time series of satellite products are available for studies on lake changes from local to global scale, e.g. within the framework of the ESA CCI LAKES.
• ISIMIP initiative – the aim of the Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project (ISIMIP) is to better understand climate impacts across sectors using a multi-impact model framework; the second phase of this international effort (ISIMIP2b) is designed to provide robust information about the impacts of 1.5°C and 2°C global warming, as highlighted by the IPCC’s special report on this topic; scientists contributing simulations and analyses to ISIMIP will find a forum to share their results in this special issue.

Reducing the uncertainty in the past, present, and future contribution of ice sheets to sea-level rise requires a coordinated effort between the climate and glaciology communities. The Ice Sheet Model Intercomparison Project for CMIP6 (ISMIP6) is the primary activity within the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) focusing on modeling the evolution of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. The ISMIP6 experimental design relies on CMIP climate models and includes, for the first time within CMIP, coupled ice-sheet-climate models as well as standalone ice sheet models. ISMIP6 provides a basis for investigating the feedbacks, impacts, and sea-level changes associated with dynamic ice sheets and for quantifying the uncertainty in ice sheet contribution to sea-level change. The goal of this special issue is to build an evolving volume of refereed and high-quality contributions focusing on both standalone ice sheet models and coupled ice sheet-climate models, as well as new developments to improve the representation of external forcings used by ice sheet models. Such a volume will serve as a unique open reference to the rapidly evolving field of numerical modeling of ice sheet flow of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets.

This special issue includes articles reporting results performed in the framework of ISMIP6, including improvements in ice sheet modeling, ice-climate interactions, or external forcings, as well as studies expounding on the ISMIP6 experimental protocol.

The glacial–interglacial cyclicity of the climate system varied in the past, most notably during the transition from a 40 ka to a 100 ka world in the mid-Pleistocene. Gases trapped in Antarctic ice are the most direct access available to investigate the composition of the paleo-atmosphere of that age and processes related to climate variability. The International Partnerships in Ice Core Sciences (IPICS) Oldest Ice endeavour aims at obtaining an undisturbed ice-core record older than 1 Ma. In addition to ice cores, time slices of paleo-records, available, for example, in Antarctic blue-ice fields, provide further valuable information, which complements continuous time series based on ice cores. This special issue will assemble contributions dedicated to the preparatory phase of this global effort to obtain ice samples and time series older than 700 000 years. This includes a consideration of glaciogical and geophysical settings which allow the presence of old ice, results from pre-site surveys and modelling studies, aspects of ice-core and other sampling techniques and analyses, and requirements for drilling and core handling.