Conventional potential evapotranspiration (PET) formulations often neglect evolving vegetation structure, physiological responses to rising atmospheric CO2 concentration and vapor pressure deficit (VPD), and feedback-driven amplification of atmospheric aridity. To address these limitations, we present a global gridded dataset of vegetation-responsive PET (PETveg) and its feedback-deflated counterpart, wet-environment PET (WETveg), derived consistently from 12 Earth system models in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6). PETveg is computed using a physically and physiologically based two-source Penman–Monteith formulation that explicitly accounts for leaf area index, atmospheric CO2, and VPD through dynamic aerodynamic and surface resistance terms. WETveg is obtained by applying the complementary evaporation principle to reconstruct the atmospheric state that would prevail over a saturated surface, thereby removing land–atmosphere feedback amplification of air temperature and VPD. The dataset spans the historical period (1850–2014) and four future Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, SSP3-7.0, and SSP5-8.5) for 2015–2100, provided on a common 1° × 1° grid at monthly resolution. Together, PETveg and WETveg offer internally consistent yet physically distinct representations of atmospheric evaporative demand, enabling transparent evaluation of PET formulation uncertainty in hydrological, ecological, and climate-impact studies.
Kim et al. (Mon,) studied this question.