Climatic datasets
We used nine global climatic datasets associated with low-cloud fraction
(CF), surface temperature (average, minimum, and maximum) (K), surface
pressure (Pa), volumetric solid water content between 7-28 cm below the
surface (VSWC) (m3 m-3),
precipitation (mm day-1), dew point (K), and potential
evapotranspiration (PET) (mm month-1). Except for
precipitation, all environmental datasets mentioned were derived
directly or indirectly (i.e., PET) from ERA5. ERA5 is a fifth-generation
atmospheric reanalysis of global climate produced by the Copernicus
Climate Change Service at the European Center for Medium-Range Weather
Forecasts (Hersbach et al., 2020). ERA5 is the direct successor to
ERA-Interim reanalysis and provides global, hourly historical weather
data at a regular grid of 0.25 °(~30 km) (Hersbach et
al., 2020). The PET dataset was indirectly derived from ERA5 using the
Penman-Monteith equation following the FAO-56 Method (Zotarelli et al.,
2010). For this, additional parameters such as wind speed, ground
pressure, incoming solar radiation, and clear-sky solar radiation were
also obtained from ERA5, as detailed in Table S3 . On the other
hand, the precipitation dataset was obtained from CHIRPS (Climate
Hazards Infrared Precipitation with Stations) (Funk et al., 2015). The
former is a quasi-global rainfall product spanning 50°S – 50°N with 38
years of daily estimations. This precipitation dataset incorporates
satellite imagery with in situ station data with a spatial
resolution of 0.05° (~ 5.5 km).
Overall, biases around ERA5 and CHIRPS climatic datasets have been
evaluated in several studies
(Bonshoms et al., 2022; Dommo et al., 2022; McNicholl et al., 2022;
Tetzner et al., 2019). Despite this, we acknowledge that the reliability
of these global products remains uncertain at varying temporal and
spatial scales at certain regions. We used these datasets as
state-of-the-art climatic products (Muñoz-Sabater et al., 2021) that may
help us to provide a comprehensive overview of the trends that are
likely to prevail in these ecosystems and not as factual observations of
what these ecosystems are experiencing.