Reconciling land / ocean moisture transport variability in reanalyses with P-ET in observationally-driven land surface models.

Vertically-integrated atmospheric moisture transport from ocean to land, VMFC, is a dynamic component of the global climate system but remains problematic in atmospheric reanalyses with current estimates having significant multi-decadal global trends differing even in sign. Regional VMFC trends over continents are especially uncertain. Continual evolution of the global observing system, particularly step-wise improvements in satellite observations, has introduced discrete changes in the ability of data assimilation to correct systematic model biases, manifesting as non-physical variability.