Soil scientists and particularly soil physicists are discussing the grand challenges of scaling soil physical properties and the function of soil structure (2012 Kirkham Conf and Jury et al 2011), but what is the view point of those modeling mass and energy fluxes at the regional, continental and global scale? Where and how can soil science improve these models and what is missing? . We envision three concepts for the symposium. One is elucidating the needs of better biophysical modeling focusing on how soil variability can contribute to better simulations of mass and energy transport. Secondly, a discussion of what the gaps in knowledge are regarding land use change and climate change. And lastly, ideas for how the global soil mapping efforts might supply better parameters or more specific soil inferences for use by the global climate and land surface modeling community.