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Analyses of atmospheric heat and moisture budgets serve as an effective tool to study convective characteristics over a region and to provide large‐scale forcing fields for various modeling applications. This paper examines two popular methods for computing large‐scale atmospheric budgets: the conventional budget method (CBM) using objectively gridded analyses based primarily on radiosonde data and the constrained variational analysis (CVA) approach which supplements vertical profiles of atmospheric fields with measurements at the top of the atmosphere and at the surface to conserve mass, water, energy, and momentum. Successful budget computations are dependent on accurate sampling and analyses of the thermodynamic state of the atmosphere and the divergence field associated with convection and the large‐scale circulation that influences it. Utilizing analyses generated from data taken during Dynamics of the Madden‐Julian Oscillation (DYNAMO) field campaign conducted over the central Indian Ocean from October to December 2011, we evaluate the merits of these budget approaches and examine their limitations. While many of the shortcomings of the CBM, in particular effects of sampling errors in sounding data, are effectively minimized with CVA, accurate large‐scale diagnostics in CVA are dependent on reliable background fields and rainfall constraints. For the DYNAMO analyses examined, the operational model fields used as the CVA background state provided wind fields that accurately resolved the vertical structure of convection in the vicinity of Gan Island. However, biases in the model thermodynamic fields were somewhat amplified in CVA resulting in a convective environment much weaker than observed.

The evolution of disciplinary silos and increasingly narrow disciplinary boundaries have together resulted in one‐sided approaches to the study of land‐atmosphere interactions—a field that requires a bi‐directional approach to understand the complex feedbacks and interactions that occur. The integration of surface flux and atmospheric boundary layer measurements is therefore essential to advancing our understanding. The Land‐Atmosphere 2021 workshop (held virtually, June 10‐11, 2021) involved almost 300 participants from around the world and promoted cross‐discipline collaboration by way of talks from invited speakers, moderated discussions, breakout sessions, and a virtual poster session. The workshop focused on five main theme areas: “big picture” overview, instrumentation and remote sensing, modeling, water, and aerosols and clouds. In talks and breakout groups, there were frequent calls for more AmeriFlux sites to be instrumented for boundary layer height measurements, and for the development of some “super sites” where profiling instruments would be deployed. There was further agreement on the need for the standardization of various datasets. There was also a consensus that funding agencies need to be willing to support the sorts of large projects (including associated instrumentation) which can drive interdisciplinary work. Early‐career scientists, in particular, expressed enthusiasm for working across disciplinary boundaries but noted that there need to be more financial support and training opportunities so they would be better prepared for interdisciplinary work. Investment in these career development opportunities would enable today's cohort of early‐career scientists to advance the frontiers of interdisciplinary work over the next couple of decades.