Multi-decadal trends in global terrestrial evapotranspiration and its components

Evapotranspiration (ET) is the process by which liquid water becomes water vapor and energetically this accounts for much of incoming solar radiation. If this ET did not occur temperatures would be higher, so understanding ET trends is crucial to predict future temperatures. Recent studies have reported prolonged declines in ET in recent decades, although these declines may relate to climate variability. Here, we used a well-validated diagnostic model to estimate daily ET during 1981–2012 and its three components: transpiration from vegetation (E t ), direct evaporation from the soil (E s ) and vaporization of intercepted rainfall from vegetation (E i ). During this period, ET over land has increased significantly ( p