Articles | Volume 25, issue 9
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-5175-2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-5175-2021
Research article
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24 Sep 2021
Research article | Highlight paper |  | 24 Sep 2021

Relative humidity gradients as a key constraint on terrestrial water and energy fluxes

Yeonuk Kim, Monica Garcia, Laura Morillas, Ulrich Weber, T. Andrew Black, and Mark S. Johnson

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Cited articles

Ameriflux: CR-Fsc site (Filadelfia sugar cane cropland), available at: https://ameriflux.lbl.gov/, last access: 22 September 2021. 
Anderson, M. C., Zolin, C. A., Hain, C. R., Semmens, K., Tugrul Yilmaz, M., and Gao, F.: Comparison of satellite-derived LAI and precipitation anomalies over Brazil with a thermal infrared-based Evaporative Stress Index for 2003–2013, J. Hydrol., 526, 287–302, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2015.01.005, 2015. 
Baldocchi, D., Falge, E., Gu, L., Olson, R., Hollinger, D., Running, S., Anthoni, P., Bernhofer, C., Davis, K., and Evans, R.: FLUXNET: A new tool to study the temporal and spatial variability of ecosystem-scale carbon dioxide, water vapor, and energy flux densities, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 82, 2415–2434, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0477(2001)082<2415:FANTTS>2.3.CO;2, 2001. 
Baldocchi, D., Knox, S., Dronova, I., Verfaillie, J., Oikawa, P., Sturtevant, C., Matthes, J. H., and Detto, M.: The impact of expanding flooded land area on the annual evaporation of rice, Agr. Forest Meteorol., 223, 181–193, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2016.04.001, 2016. 
Baldocchi, D., Ma, S., and Verfaillie, J.: On the inter- and intra-annual variability of ecosystem evapotranspiration and water use efficiency of an oak savanna and annual grassland subjected to booms and busts in rainfall, Glob. Change Biol., 27, 359–375, https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15414, 2021. 
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Here, we present a novel physically based evaporation model to demonstrate that vertical relative humidity (RH) gradients from the land surface to the atmosphere tend to evolve towards zero due to land–atmosphere equilibration processes. Collapsing RH gradients on daily to yearly timescales indicate an emergent land–atmosphere equilibrium, making it possible to determine evapotranspiration using only meteorological information, independent of land surface conditions and vegetation controls.