SimSphere is a one-dimensional soil–vegetation–atmosphere transfer model devoted to the study of land surface interactions of the Earth’s system. Since its early development, the model has become highly variable in its application use.

Apart from its use as an educational tool at several universities worldwide, SimSphere is used in a number of research studies related to the examination of hypothetical scenarios examining land surface processes and feedbacks. It is also used synergistically with Earth observation (EO) data to retrieve spatiotemporal estimates of energy fluxes and surface soil moisture, involving exploration studies on the development of related operational products.

This special issue hosts contributions concerned with descriptions of further upgrades of SimSphere or its exploitation in any way. It comprises articles on model developments or applications involving the model; this includes – but is not limited to – studies exploring hypothetical scenario examination, model validation, sensitivity analysis and synergies of it with EO data.