diff --git a/.buildkite/Manifest.toml b/.buildkite/Manifest.toml
index 0ffdeb970a..c52ff3ddcd 100644
--- a/.buildkite/Manifest.toml
+++ b/.buildkite/Manifest.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # This file is machine-generated - editing it directly is not advised
 
-julia_version = "1.10.4"
+julia_version = "1.10.3"
 manifest_format = "2.0"
 project_hash = "d68e0a492fb89a105b905419594639d3a6a2129d"
 
@@ -227,9 +227,13 @@ version = "0.1.6"
 
 [[deps.BlockArrays]]
 deps = ["ArrayLayouts", "FillArrays", "LinearAlgebra"]
-git-tree-sha1 = "9a9610fbe5779636f75229e423e367124034af41"
+git-tree-sha1 = "5c0ffe1dff8cb7112de075f1b1cb32191675fcba"
 uuid = "8e7c35d0-a365-5155-bbbb-fb81a777f24e"
-version = "0.16.43"
+version = "1.1.0"
+weakdeps = ["BandedMatrices"]
+
+    [deps.BlockArrays.extensions]
+    BlockArraysBandedMatricesExt = "BandedMatrices"
 
 [[deps.Bzip2_jll]]
 deps = ["Artifacts", "JLLWrappers", "Libdl", "Pkg"]
@@ -376,10 +380,10 @@ weakdeps = ["CUDA", "MPI"]
     ClimaCommsMPIExt = "MPI"
 
 [[deps.ClimaCore]]
-deps = ["Adapt", "BandedMatrices", "BlockArrays", "ClimaComms", "CubedSphere", "DataStructures", "DocStringExtensions", "ForwardDiff", "GaussQuadrature", "GilbertCurves", "HDF5", "InteractiveUtils", "IntervalSets", "KrylovKit", "LinearAlgebra", "MultiBroadcastFusion", "NVTX", "PkgVersion", "RecursiveArrayTools", "RootSolvers", "SparseArrays", "Static", "StaticArrays", "Statistics", "Unrolled"]
-git-tree-sha1 = "ffd0b5afde1816c9e61697e9510fbd9aa01b62de"
+deps = ["Adapt", "BandedMatrices", "BlockArrays", "ClimaComms", "CubedSphere", "DataStructures", "DocStringExtensions", "ForwardDiff", "GaussQuadrature", "GilbertCurves", "HDF5", "InteractiveUtils", "IntervalSets", "KrylovKit", "LinearAlgebra", "MultiBroadcastFusion", "NVTX", "PkgVersion", "RecursiveArrayTools", "RootSolvers", "SparseArrays", "StaticArrays", "Statistics", "Unrolled"]
+git-tree-sha1 = "fa5335ad4b4596c70882c42366172b52aad7a499"
 uuid = "d414da3d-4745-48bb-8d80-42e94e092884"
-version = "0.14.9"
+version = "0.14.10"
 weakdeps = ["CUDA", "Krylov"]
 
     [deps.ClimaCore.extensions]
@@ -518,6 +522,11 @@ git-tree-sha1 = "7b8a93dba8af7e3b42fecabf646260105ac373f7"
 uuid = "bbf7d656-a473-5ed7-a52c-81e309532950"
 version = "0.3.0"
 
+[[deps.CommonWorldInvalidations]]
+git-tree-sha1 = "ae52d1c52048455e85a387fbee9be553ec2b68d0"
+uuid = "f70d9fcc-98c5-4d4a-abd7-e4cdeebd8ca8"
+version = "1.0.0"
+
 [[deps.Compat]]
 deps = ["TOML", "UUIDs"]
 git-tree-sha1 = "b1c55339b7c6c350ee89f2c1604299660525b248"
@@ -1421,10 +1430,14 @@ uuid = "ba0b0d4f-ebba-5204-a429-3ac8c609bfb7"
 version = "0.9.6"
 
 [[deps.KrylovKit]]
-deps = ["ChainRulesCore", "GPUArraysCore", "LinearAlgebra", "Printf", "VectorInterface"]
-git-tree-sha1 = "3f3a92bbe8f568b689a7f7bc193f7c717d793751"
+deps = ["GPUArraysCore", "LinearAlgebra", "PackageExtensionCompat", "Printf", "VectorInterface"]
+git-tree-sha1 = "3c2a016489c38f35160a246c91a3f3353c47bb68"
 uuid = "0b1a1467-8014-51b9-945f-bf0ae24f4b77"
-version = "0.7.1"
+version = "0.8.1"
+weakdeps = ["ChainRulesCore"]
+
+    [deps.KrylovKit.extensions]
+    KrylovKitChainRulesCoreExt = "ChainRulesCore"
 
 [[deps.LAME_jll]]
 deps = ["Artifacts", "JLLWrappers", "Libdl"]
@@ -1506,15 +1519,23 @@ uuid = "10f19ff3-798f-405d-979b-55457f8fc047"
 version = "0.1.17"
 
 [[deps.LazyArrays]]
-deps = ["ArrayLayouts", "FillArrays", "LinearAlgebra", "MacroTools", "MatrixFactorizations", "SparseArrays"]
-git-tree-sha1 = "35079a6a869eecace778bcda8641f9a54ca3a828"
+deps = ["ArrayLayouts", "FillArrays", "LinearAlgebra", "MacroTools", "SparseArrays"]
+git-tree-sha1 = "46dd13736e33cc3bfc610f62b6c7f84b9c95539a"
 uuid = "5078a376-72f3-5289-bfd5-ec5146d43c02"
-version = "1.10.0"
-weakdeps = ["StaticArrays"]
+version = "2.1.8"
 
     [deps.LazyArrays.extensions]
+    LazyArraysBandedMatricesExt = "BandedMatrices"
+    LazyArraysBlockArraysExt = "BlockArrays"
+    LazyArraysBlockBandedMatricesExt = "BlockBandedMatrices"
     LazyArraysStaticArraysExt = "StaticArrays"
 
+    [deps.LazyArrays.weakdeps]
+    BandedMatrices = "aae01518-5342-5314-be14-df237901396f"
+    BlockArrays = "8e7c35d0-a365-5155-bbbb-fb81a777f24e"
+    BlockBandedMatrices = "ffab5731-97b5-5995-9138-79e8c1846df0"
+    StaticArrays = "90137ffa-7385-5640-81b9-e52037218182"
+
 [[deps.LazyArtifacts]]
 deps = ["Artifacts", "Pkg"]
 uuid = "4af54fe1-eca0-43a8-85a7-787d91b784e3"
@@ -1627,9 +1648,9 @@ version = "2.8.0"
 
 [[deps.LinearSolve]]
 deps = ["ArrayInterface", "ChainRulesCore", "ConcreteStructs", "DocStringExtensions", "EnumX", "FastLapackInterface", "GPUArraysCore", "InteractiveUtils", "KLU", "Krylov", "LazyArrays", "Libdl", "LinearAlgebra", "MKL_jll", "Markdown", "PrecompileTools", "Preferences", "RecursiveFactorization", "Reexport", "SciMLBase", "SciMLOperators", "Setfield", "SparseArrays", "Sparspak", "StaticArraysCore", "UnPack"]
-git-tree-sha1 = "7648cc20100504f4b453917aacc8520e9c0ecfb3"
+git-tree-sha1 = "b2e2dba60642e07c062eb3143770d7e234316772"
 uuid = "7ed4a6bd-45f5-4d41-b270-4a48e9bafcae"
-version = "2.30.1"
+version = "2.30.2"
 
     [deps.LinearSolve.extensions]
     LinearSolveBandedMatricesExt = "BandedMatrices"
@@ -1785,12 +1806,6 @@ git-tree-sha1 = "96ca8a313eb6437db5ffe946c457a401bbb8ce1d"
 uuid = "0a4f8689-d25c-4efe-a92b-7142dfc1aa53"
 version = "0.5.7"
 
-[[deps.MatrixFactorizations]]
-deps = ["ArrayLayouts", "LinearAlgebra", "Printf", "Random"]
-git-tree-sha1 = "6731e0574fa5ee21c02733e397beb133df90de35"
-uuid = "a3b82374-2e81-5b9e-98ce-41277c0e4c87"
-version = "2.2.0"
-
 [[deps.MaybeInplace]]
 deps = ["ArrayInterface", "LinearAlgebra", "MacroTools", "SparseArrays"]
 git-tree-sha1 = "1b9e613f2ca3b6cdcbfe36381e17ca2b66d4b3a1"
@@ -2632,10 +2647,10 @@ uuid = "cae243ae-269e-4f55-b966-ac2d0dc13c15"
 version = "0.1.1"
 
 [[deps.Static]]
-deps = ["IfElse"]
-git-tree-sha1 = "d2fdac9ff3906e27f7a618d47b676941baa6c80c"
+deps = ["CommonWorldInvalidations", "IfElse", "PrecompileTools"]
+git-tree-sha1 = "0bbff21027dd8a107551847528127b62a35f7594"
 uuid = "aedffcd0-7271-4cad-89d0-dc628f76c6d3"
-version = "0.8.10"
+version = "1.1.0"
 
 [[deps.StaticArrayInterface]]
 deps = ["ArrayInterface", "Compat", "IfElse", "LinearAlgebra", "PrecompileTools", "Requires", "SparseArrays", "Static", "SuiteSparse"]
diff --git a/Artifacts.toml b/Artifacts.toml
index 0e9a3ff72d..d41f2caacf 100644
--- a/Artifacts.toml
+++ b/Artifacts.toml
@@ -1,9 +1,12 @@
 [era5_land_forcing_data2021]
 git-tree-sha1 = "ec424296df6b60cfe273ac8f981701fbbed0bd8a"
 
+["processed_topographic_index 2.5 deg"]
+git-tree-sha1 = "0c252917b24ce3c201fa62d639342ab4d872b388"
+
 [soil_params_Gupta2020_2022]
-git-tree-sha1 = "8e28b4274b10020b6cdd54b8e7585221379d9d33"
+git-tree-sha1 = "c10e8f877603bfa2c018eb2dd0c51dd078abe5df"
 
     [[soil_params_Gupta2020_2022.download]]
-    sha256 = "97dcf1158cba03b1fd397262bdfaf85a523f57038c337bcce163e32664d3616b"
-    url = "https://caltech.box.com/shared/static/f2y23qx0lggjskftzgh7ht7fsbh36gmm.gz"
+    sha256 = "6205d96ae7724c469eef5cd1cf3b99e186637427b6fb65ecc659fb808fc6cacf"
+    url = "https://caltech.box.com/shared/static/7c6yx62tzjivxfmhqyy03r6e9l1glyu1.gz"
diff --git a/experiments/long_runs/land.jl b/experiments/long_runs/land.jl
index 85716f09ff..6685564856 100644
--- a/experiments/long_runs/land.jl
+++ b/experiments/long_runs/land.jl
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ regridder_type = :InterpolationsRegridder
 context = ClimaComms.context()
 device = ClimaComms.device()
 device_suffix = device isa ClimaComms.CPUSingleThreaded ? "cpu" : "gpu"
-root_path = "land_longrun_ac_$(device_suffix)"
+root_path = "land_longrun_$(device_suffix)"
 diagnostics_outdir = joinpath(root_path, "global_diagnostics")
 outdir =
     ClimaUtilities.OutputPathGenerator.generate_output_path(diagnostics_outdir)
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ function setup_prob(t0, tf, Δt; outdir = outdir, nelements = (101, 15))
         depth = depth,
         nelements = nelements,
         npolynomial = 1,
-        dz_tuple = FT.((10.0, 0.5)),
+        dz_tuple = FT.((10.0, 0.5)),# top layer should ideally be only a few cm!
     )
     surface_space = domain.space.surface
     subsurface_space = domain.space.subsurface
@@ -204,7 +204,7 @@ function setup_prob(t0, tf, Δt; outdir = outdir, nelements = (101, 15))
     soil_params_mask = SpaceVaryingInput(
         joinpath(
             soil_params_artifact_path,
-            "vGalpha_map_gupta_etal2020_2.5x2.5x4.nc",
+            "vGalpha_map_gupta_etal2020_1.0x1.0x4.nc",
         ),
         "α",
         subsurface_space;
@@ -218,7 +218,7 @@ function setup_prob(t0, tf, Δt; outdir = outdir, nelements = (101, 15))
     vg_α = SpaceVaryingInput(
         joinpath(
             soil_params_artifact_path,
-            "vGalpha_map_gupta_etal2020_2.5x2.5x4.nc",
+            "vGalpha_map_gupta_etal2020_1.0x1.0x4.nc",
         ),
         "α",
         subsurface_space;
@@ -228,7 +228,7 @@ function setup_prob(t0, tf, Δt; outdir = outdir, nelements = (101, 15))
     vg_n = SpaceVaryingInput(
         joinpath(
             soil_params_artifact_path,
-            "vGn_map_gupta_etal2020_2.5x2.5x4.nc",
+            "vGn_map_gupta_etal2020_1.0x1.0x4.nc",
         ),
         "n",
         subsurface_space;
@@ -250,7 +250,7 @@ function setup_prob(t0, tf, Δt; outdir = outdir, nelements = (101, 15))
     θ_r = SpaceVaryingInput(
         joinpath(
             soil_params_artifact_path,
-            "residual_map_gupta_etal2020_2.5x2.5x4.nc",
+            "residual_map_gupta_etal2020_1.0x1.0x4.nc",
         ),
         "θ_r",
         subsurface_space;
@@ -261,7 +261,7 @@ function setup_prob(t0, tf, Δt; outdir = outdir, nelements = (101, 15))
     ν = SpaceVaryingInput(
         joinpath(
             soil_params_artifact_path,
-            "porosity_map_gupta_etal2020_2.5x2.5x4.nc",
+            "porosity_map_gupta_etal2020_1.0x1.0x4.nc",
         ),
         "ν",
         subsurface_space;
@@ -271,7 +271,7 @@ function setup_prob(t0, tf, Δt; outdir = outdir, nelements = (101, 15))
     K_sat = SpaceVaryingInput(
         joinpath(
             soil_params_artifact_path,
-            "ksat_map_gupta_etal2020_2.5x2.5x4.nc",
+            "ksat_map_gupta_etal2020_1.0x1.0x4.nc",
         ),
         "Ksat",
         subsurface_space;
@@ -362,7 +362,7 @@ function setup_prob(t0, tf, Δt; outdir = outdir, nelements = (101, 15))
     τ_NIR_leaf = FT(0.25)
 
     # Energy Balance model
-    ac_canopy = FT(2.5e4)
+    ac_canopy = FT(2.5e4) # this will likely be 10x smaller!
 
     # Conductance Model
     g1 = FT(141) # Wang et al: 141 sqrt(Pa) for Medlyn model; Natan used 300.
diff --git a/experiments/standalone/Soil/richards_runoff.jl b/experiments/standalone/Soil/richards_runoff.jl
index a5d0ddd907..90d6db37d8 100644
--- a/experiments/standalone/Soil/richards_runoff.jl
+++ b/experiments/standalone/Soil/richards_runoff.jl
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ end
 vg_α = SpaceVaryingInput(
     joinpath(
         soil_params_artifact_path,
-        "vGalpha_map_gupta_etal2020_2.5x2.5x4.nc",
+        "vGalpha_map_gupta_etal2020_1.0x1.0x4.nc",
     ),
     "α",
     subsurface_space;
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ function mask_vg_n(var, value)
     end
 end
 vg_n = SpaceVaryingInput(
-    joinpath(soil_params_artifact_path, "vGn_map_gupta_etal2020_2.5x2.5x4.nc"),
+    joinpath(soil_params_artifact_path, "vGn_map_gupta_etal2020_1.0x1.0x4.nc"),
     "n",
     subsurface_space;
     regridder_type,
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ hydrology_cm = vg_fields_to_hcm_field.(vg_α, vg_n)
 θ_r = SpaceVaryingInput(
     joinpath(
         soil_params_artifact_path,
-        "residual_map_gupta_etal2020_2.5x2.5x4.nc",
+        "residual_map_gupta_etal2020_1.0x1.0x4.nc",
     ),
     "θ_r",
     subsurface_space;
@@ -126,7 +126,7 @@ hydrology_cm = vg_fields_to_hcm_field.(vg_α, vg_n)
 ν = SpaceVaryingInput(
     joinpath(
         soil_params_artifact_path,
-        "porosity_map_gupta_etal2020_2.5x2.5x4.nc",
+        "porosity_map_gupta_etal2020_1.0x1.0x4.nc",
     ),
     "ν",
     subsurface_space;
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ hydrology_cm = vg_fields_to_hcm_field.(vg_α, vg_n)
 )
 ν .= mask_vg.(ν, 1.0)
 K_sat = SpaceVaryingInput(
-    joinpath(soil_params_artifact_path, "ksat_map_gupta_etal2020_2.5x2.5x4.nc"),
+    joinpath(soil_params_artifact_path, "ksat_map_gupta_etal2020_1.0x1.0x4.nc"),
     "Ksat",
     subsurface_space;
     regridder_type,