{
  "abstract": "Atmospheric warming raises evaporative demand, but actual evapotranspiration (ETa) may track demand or decouple under water limitation. Here, we quantified demand-tracking ability from regression slopes relating deseasonalized ETa and reference evapotranspiration (ETo) anomalies across California during 2008-2024. Forests and croplands retained similar positive tracking under severe drought, whereas grasslands and shrublands showed weak or negative responses. Despite similar demand tracking, forest responses were consistent with subsurface-storage access, whereas cropland responses reflected managed water access and crop-system adjustment. Positive ETa-ETo coupling on active fields coexisted with a higher statewide crop-attributed fallow share of managed cropland than under no drought, showing that active-field estimates alone did not capture whole-crop-system adjustment. Late-period demand-tracking ability was lower at 54.9% of grid cells, with larger regional declines accompanying greater groundwater-storage losses. Our results indicate that similar ETa responses mask contrasting modes of water access, requiring joint consideration of hydrology and management when interpreting drought responses.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "2610.09181",
  "author_total": 6,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Yan Zhang"
    },
    {
      "name": "Veronica J. Berrocal"
    },
    {
      "name": "Joshua B. Fisher"
    },
    {
      "name": "Octavia Crompton"
    },
    {
      "name": "Alvar Escriva-Bou"
    },
    {
      "name": "Angela J. Rigden"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/7x4t9e2k2p18t.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2610.09181",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "7x4t9e2k2p18t",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.09181",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "LicenseRef-arXiv-nonexclusive-1.0",
  "licence_label": "arXiv licence",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "physics.ao-ph"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2306|Hydrology and Drought Analysis"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7221053916",
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2610.09181",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-06",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/7x4t9e2k2p18t.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:27:37Z",
      "native_id": "2610.09181",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.09181"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "earth",
      "origin": "arxiv:physics.ao-ph",
      "subfield": "atmospheric"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Similar evapotranspiration responses mask contrasting modes of water access during drought in California",
  "title_text": "Similar evapotranspiration responses mask contrasting modes of water access during drought in California",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:27:37Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/7x4t9e2k2p18t",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": []
}