The Late Miocene ''Solitary Channel,'' Tabernas-Sorbas basin, SE Spain, has been interpreted as a submarine channel fed by sediment gravity flows from the east. In this paper, the channel is reinterpreted as a lower-slope erosional channel fed by sediment gravity flows from the west. The channel shows cobble/pebble lag deposits, including breccias, associated with erosional phases with substantial sediment bypass, and a later infill by episodes of inclined backstepping macroforms (the primary focus in this paper), mainly comprising sands, interpreted here for the first time as channel backfill deposits. These inclined sandy macroforms, typically 2-5 m in height and 30-40 m in length, are described in detail for the first time in this paper, and are interpreted as a new large-scale sedimentary structure. We observe that the seeding process for the inclined sandy macroforms appears to have been in the upstream depression immediately behind ridges on the surface directly overlying cohesive debris-flow deposits.The internal channel architecture is interpreted in terms of fluctuating relative base levels. A purely local tectonic explanation for the inclined sandy macroforms is discounted because within the bed bundles, dips are essentially constant across the intrachannel disconformities. We speculate that the most likely overall change in base level throughout the history of the channel was driven by regional tectonic change. The higher-frequency variations were probably a consequence of fluctuations in sediment supply/caliber from the source area and/or of cycles of eustatic or regional sea-level changes. The channel was abruptly overlain by about 200 m of marls and then a heterolithic sheet-like turbidite system typical of a confined basin-floor setting. This change in depositional style represents a response to a significant overall decrease in basin-floor gradient, in which there was a differential change in base level, shown by the coeval development of a major angular unconformity farther east (Sorbas area). The channel history is important for sequence-stratigraphic modeling because it demonstrates that a backstepping fill can be caused by an overall tectonic control on the accommodation space (initiation and abandonment). Higher-frequency source-area changes in sediment flux/caliber and/or eustatic sea level probably exert a strong influence on the detailed depositional architecture in the channel (multiple bypass-backfill events).

Decreases in pan evaporation (E pan ) have been reported around the world despite increasing air temperatures; this was attributed to reductions in wind speed and solar radiation. Using 42 years (1975Using 42 years ( -2016 of Australian E pan data, we reexamined E pan trends, adding over a decade of observations to previous analyses. Flexible local linear regression models showed that many previously reported decreasing E pan trends have plateaued or reversed. Attribution analysis confirmed that 1975-1994 E pan decreases in southern/western Australia were chiefly driven by decreasing wind speeds. Increasing vapor pressure deficit subsequently became dominant, resulting in 1994-2016 E pan increases. Climate trend analyses should consider applying flexible statistical models to qualitatively understand temporal dynamics, complementing linear models that are able to provide quantitative assessments, especially when multiple drivers are involved.Plain Language Summary Evaporation pans measure atmospheric evaporative demand and are used to estimate water loss from storages (e.g., dams) and to provide inputs to hydrologic models and drought indices. In the late twentieth century, a surprising trend in annual pan evaporation was found: although temperatures were increasing, pan evaporation was decreasing in many parts of the world (including Australia). Pan evaporation responds to multiple drivers: net radiation, air temperature, wind speed, and vapor pressure deficit. In Australia, earlier studies showed that declining wind speeds (stilling) were chiefly responsible. We revisited the conclusions of these studies using an additional 12 years of pan evaporation data. Interestingly, we found that many previously decreasing pan evaporation trends are now increasing. Using a flexible regression technique in combination with linear regression, we showed that this change is due to increasing air temperature driving greater vapor pressure deficits. Possible reasons for increasing air temperatures include anthropogenic climate change and/or a period of drought (2000s) in Australia. Both of these factors likely contributed to increasing pan evaporation trends. Increased atmospheric evaporative demand may reduce water security due to greater evaporative losses from storages. Key Points:• Pan evaporation decreases between the 1970s and mid-2000s were previously attributed to decreasing wind speeds • We show that these trends actually reversed in the early 1990s, driven mainly by increasing vapor pressure deficit • The vapor pressure deficit increases were caused by increasing temperature (not reduced moisture) and may continue with global warming Supporting Information:• Supporting Information S1

To estimate the robustness of hydrologic models under projected future climate change, researchers test transferability between climatically contrasting observed periods. This approach can only assess the performance changes induced by altered precipitation and related environmental dynamics (e.g., greening under wet conditions), since the instrumental record does not contain temperatures or carbon dioxide levels that are similar to future climate change projections. Additionally, there is an inherent assumption that long‐term persistence of changes in precipitation will not further impact catchment response. In this study, we undertake a series of virtual catchment experiments using an ecohydrologic model that simulates dynamic vegetation growth, nutrient cycling, and subsurface hydrology. These experiments explore a number of climate change scenarios. We compare simulations based on persistent altered climate states against simulations designed to represent historical periods with the same precipitation but limited time for ecohydrologic adaptation. We find that persistence of precipitation changes as well as increased temperature and elevated carbon dioxide levels can all substantially impact streamflow under drier future conditions. For wetter future scenarios, simulated differences in the flow regime were smaller, but there was still notable divergence in modeled low flows and other hydrologic variables. The results suggest that historical periods with equivalent precipitation statistics cannot necessarily be used as proxies for future climate change when examining catchment runoff response and/or model performance. The current literature likely underestimates the potential for nonstationarity in hydrologic assessments, especially for drier future scenarios.