The future of evapotranspiration: Global requirements for ecosystem functioning, carbon and climate feedbacks, agricultural management, and water resources

TLDR

The terrestrial biosphere’s future is uncertain due to climate change, especially with altered drought patterns, and limited knowledge of ecosystem responses hampers adaptation and monitoring. The study aims to position evapotranspiration as the central link among ecosystem function, carbon‑climate feedbacks, agriculture, and water resources, and to outline key scientific questions and space‑based actions needed. The authors propose that measuring and modeling evapotranspiration, particularly through satellite observations, is essential to integrate ecosystem, carbon, climate, agricultural, and water resource analyses.

Abstract

Abstract The fate of the terrestrial biosphere is highly uncertain given recent and projected changes in climate. This is especially acute for impacts associated with changes in drought frequency and intensity on the distribution and timing of water availability. The development of effective adaptation strategies for these emerging threats to food and water security are compromised by limitations in our understanding of how natural and managed ecosystems are responding to changing hydrological and climatological regimes. This information gap is exacerbated by insufficient monitoring capabilities from local to global scales. Here, we describe how evapotranspiration (ET) represents the key variable in linking ecosystem functioning, carbon and climate feedbacks, agricultural management, and water resources, and highlight both the outstanding science and applications questions and the actions, especially from a space‐based perspective, necessary to advance them.