[1] Soil moisture control on evapotranspiration is poorly understood in ecosystems experiencing seasonal greening. In this study, we utilize a set of multi-year observations at four eddy covariance sites along a latitudinal gradient in vegetation greening to infer the ET-q relation during the North American monsoon. Results reveal significant seasonal, interannual and ecosystem variations in the observed ET-q relation directly linked to vegetation greening. In particular, monsoon-dominated ecosystems adjust their ET-q relation, through changes in unstressed ET and plant stress threshold, to cope with differences in water availability. Comparisons of the observed relations to the North American Regional Reanalysis dataset reveal large biases that increase where vegetation greening is more significant. The analysis presented here can be used to guide improvements in land surface model parameterization in water-limited ecosystems. Citation: Vivoni, E. R., H. A.

Global-scale studies suggest that dryland ecosystems dominate an increasing trend in the magnitude and interannual variability of the land CO sink. However, such analyses are poorly constrained by measured CO exchange in drylands. Here we address this observation gap with eddy covariance data from 25 sites in the water-limited Southwest region of North America with observed ranges in annual precipitation of 100-1000 mm, annual temperatures of 2-25°C, and records of 3-10 years (150 site-years in total). Annual fluxes were integrated using site-specific ecohydrologic years to group precipitation with resulting ecosystem exchanges. We found a wide range of carbon sink/source function, with mean annual net ecosystem production (NEP) varying from -350 to +330 gCm across sites with diverse vegetation types, contrasting with the more constant sink typically measured in mesic ecosystems. In this region, only forest-dominated sites were consistent carbon sinks. Interannual variability of NEP, gross ecosystem production (GEP), and ecosystem respiration (R ) was larger than for mesic regions, and half the sites switched between functioning as C sinks/C sources in wet/dry years. The sites demonstrated coherent responses of GEP and NEP to anomalies in annual evapotranspiration (ET), used here as a proxy for annually available water after hydrologic losses. Notably, GEP and R were negatively related to temperature, both interannually within site and spatially across sites, in contrast to positive temperature effects commonly reported for mesic ecosystems. Models based on MODIS satellite observations matched the cross-site spatial pattern in mean annual GEP but consistently underestimated mean annual ET by ~50%. Importantly, the MODIS-based models captured only 20-30% of interannual variation magnitude. These results suggest the contribution of this dryland region to variability of regional to global CO exchange may be up to 3-5 times larger than current estimates.

Global modeling efforts indicate semiarid regions dominate the increasing trend and interannual variation of net CO2 exchange with the atmosphere, mainly driven by water availability. Many semiarid regions are expected to undergo climatic drying, but the impacts on net CO2 exchange are poorly understood due to limited semiarid flux observations. Here we evaluated 121 site‐years of annual eddy covariance measurements of net and gross CO2 exchange (photosynthesis and respiration), precipitation, and evapotranspiration (ET) in 21 semiarid North American ecosystems with an observed range of 100 – 1000 mm in annual precipitation and records of 4–9 years each. In addition to evaluating spatial relationships among CO2 and water fluxes across sites, we separately quantified site‐level temporal relationships, representing sensitivity to interannual variation. Across the climatic and ecological gradient, photosynthesis showed a saturating spatial relationship to precipitation, whereas the photosynthesis–ET relationship was linear, suggesting ET was a better proxy for water available to drive CO2 exchanges after hydrologic losses. Both photosynthesis and respiration showed similar site‐level sensitivity to interannual changes in ET among the 21 ecosystems. Furthermore, these temporal relationships were not different from the spatial relationships of long‐term mean CO2 exchanges with climatic ET. Consequently, a hypothetical 100‐mm change in ET, whether short term or long term, was predicted to alter net ecosystem production (NEP) by 64 gCm−2 yr−1. Most of the unexplained NEP variability was related to persistent, site‐specific function, suggesting prioritization of research on slow‐changing controls. Common temporal and spatial sensitivity to water availability increases our confidence that site‐level responses to interannual weather can be extrapolated for prediction of CO2 exchanges over decadal and longer timescales relevant to societal response to climate change.

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Seasonal vegetation changes during the North American monsoon play a major role in modifying water, energy, and momentum fluxes. Nevertheless, most models parameterize plants as a static component or with averaged seasonal variations that ignore interannual differences and their potential impact on evapotranspiration (ET) and its components. Here vegetation parameters derived from remote sensing data were coupled with a hydrologic model at two eddy covariance (EC) sites with observations spanning multiple summers. Sinaloan thornscrub (ST) and Madrean woodland (MW) sites, arranged at intermediate and high elevations along mountain fronts in northwest Mexico, occupy specific niches related to climate conditions and water availability that are poorly understood. We found that simulations with a dynamic representation of vegetation greening tracked well the seasonal evolution of observed ET and soil moisture (SM). A switch in the dominant component of ET from soil evaporation (E) to plant transpiration (T) was observed for each ecosystem depending on the timing and magnitude of vegetation greening that is directly tied to rainfall characteristics. Differences in vegetation greening at the ST and MW sites lead to a dominance of transpiration at ST (T/ET 5 57%), but evaporation-dominant conditions at MW (T/ET 5 19%). Peak transpiration occurred at 5 and 20 days after the full canopy development in the ST and MW sites, respectively. These results indicate that evapotranspiration timing and partitioning varies considerably in the two studied ecosystems in accordance with different modes of vegetation greening. Intermediateelevation ecosystems follow an intensive water use strategy with a rapid and robust transpiration response to water availability. In contrast, higher elevation sites have delayed and attenuated transpiration, suggesting an extensive water use strategy persisting beyond the North American monsoon.