Articles | Volume 24, issue 9
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-4317-2020
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-4317-2020
Research article
 | 
03 Sep 2020
Research article |  | 03 Sep 2020

Climate elasticity of evapotranspiration shifts the water balance of Mediterranean climates during multi-year droughts

Francesco Avanzi, Joseph Rungee, Tessa Maurer, Roger Bales, Qin Ma, Steven Glaser, and Martha Conklin

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AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision
ED: Publish subject to revisions (further review by editor and referees) (17 Jan 2020) by Dominic Mazvimavi
AR by Francesco Avanzi on behalf of the Authors (16 May 2020)  Author's response    Manuscript
ED: Publish subject to minor revisions (further review by editor) (10 Jun 2020) by Dominic Mazvimavi
AR by Francesco Avanzi on behalf of the Authors (25 Jun 2020)  Author's response    Manuscript
ED: Publish as is (14 Jul 2020) by Dominic Mazvimavi
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Short summary
Multi-year droughts in Mediterranean climates often see a lower fraction of precipitation allocated to runoff compared to non-drought years. By comparing observed water-balance components with simulations by a hydrologic model (PRMS), we reinterpret these shifts as a hysteretic response of the water budget to climate elasticity of evapotranspiration. Our results point to a general improvement in hydrologic predictions across drought and recovery cycles by including this mechanism.