Causal relationships of vegetation productivity with root zone water availability and atmospheric dryness at the catchment scale

Abeshu, Guta Wakbulcho; Li, Hong-Yi; Shi, Mingjie; Leung, L. Ruby

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-1847-2025

Articles | Volume 29, issue 7

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-1847-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-1847-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 29, issue 7

Research article

|

08 Apr 2025

Research article |

| 08 Apr 2025

Causal relationships of vegetation productivity with root zone water availability and atmospheric dryness at the catchment scale

Guta Wakbulcho Abeshu, Hong-Yi Li, Mingjie Shi, and L. Ruby Leung

Data sets

Catchment Attributes and Meteorology for Large-sample Studies (CAMELS) A. J. Newman et al. https://ral.ucar.edu/solutions/products/camels

Continental US Landsat GPP Product (UMT_NTSG_v2_LANDSAT_GPP) University of Montana Numerical Terradynamic Simulation Group (NTSG) https://developers.google.com/earth-engine/datasets/catalog/UMT_NTSG_v2_LANDSAT_GPP

NOAA CDR AVHRR Leaf Area Index and FAPAR (NOAA_CDR_AVHRR_LAI_FAPAR_V5) NOAA Climate Data Record Program https://developers.google.com/earth-engine/datasets/catalog/NOAA_CDR_AVHRR_LAI_FAPAR_V5

Short summary

This study examined how water availability, climate dryness, and plant productivity interact at the catchment scale. Using various indices and statistical methods, we found a 0–2-month lag in these interactions. Strong correlations during peak-productivity months were observed, with a notable hysteresis effect in vegetation response to changes in water availability and climate dryness. The findings help better understand catchment responses to climate variability.