Interannual variability of evapotranspiration and energy exchange over an annual grassland in California

We report on the interannual variability of evapotranspiration ( E ) and energy exchange of an annual grassland in the Mediterranean climate zone of California. They were measured directly with the eddy covariance technique over a 6‐year period that spanned between July 2001 and June 2007 and experienced a large range in precipitation (376 mm to 888 mm). Despite a two‐fold range in precipitation, annual E ranged much less, between 266 mm and 391 mm. We found that pronounced energy‐limited and water‐limited periods occurred within the same year. In the water‐limited period, monthly integrated E scaled negatively with solar radiation and was restrained by precipitation. In the energy‐limited period, on the other hand, the majority of E scaled positively with solar radiation ( R g ) and was confined by potential E ( E p ). E was most sensitive to the availability of soil moisture during the transition to the senescence period rather than onset of the greenness period, causing annual E to be strongly modulated by growing season length. Bulk surface conductance scaled consistently with Priestley‐Taylor α coefficient regardless of interannual and seasonal variability of precipitation, E , and solar radiation.