Climatic Control on Mean Annual Groundwater Evapotranspiration in a Three‐Stage Precipitation Partitioning Framework.

A three‐stage precipitation partitioning framework is proposed to study the climate controls on mean annual groundwater evapotranspiration (GWET) for 33 gauged watersheds in west‐central Florida. Daily GWET, total evapotranspiration (ET), groundwater recharge, base flow, and total runoff are simulated by the Integrated Hydrologic Model, which dynamically couples a surface water model (HSPF) and a groundwater flow model (MODFLOW). The roles of GWET on long‐term water balance are quantified by four ratios. The ratios of GWET to total available water, watershed wetting, ET, and recharge decrease exponentially with watershed aridity index (WAI), which is defined as the ratio of potential evapotranspiration to total available water. In the one‐stage precipitation partitioning framework, the contribution of GWET to the ratio between total ET and available water for ET (i.e., the y‐axis of Budyko curve) decreases with WAI. In the two‐stage precipitation partitioning framework, the contribution of GWET to the ratio between total ET and watershed wetting (i.e., Horton index) decreases with WAI. The changes in GWET caused by intra‐monthly (IM) climate variability are the highest among the temporal scales of climate variability investigated to understand controls on GWET. The inter‐annual, intra‐annual, and IM climate variabilities lead to increase of GWET; but the sub‐daily climate variability results in decrease of GWET. For the third stage of partitioning, given the same ratio of potential GWET to available water for GWET, higher percentage of forest and wetland and lower percentage of impervious land contribute to higher ratio of GWET to available water for GWET. Key Points: A three‐stage precipitation partitioning framework is proposed to understand climate control on mean annual groundwater evapotranspiration (GWET)The contribution of GWET to Horton index and the y‐axis of Budyko curve declines with watershed aridity index in the study sitesThe roles of long‐term climate, climate variability and land cover on mean annual GWET are quantified [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]