Climate warming redistributes the seasonality of inland open-water evaporation

Climate warming is expected to intensify inland open-water evaporation ( 𝐸 ), yet how warming alters the seasonal structure of 𝐸 remains insufficiently understood. Here we quantify changes in the seasonality of open-water 𝐸 across ice-free inland water bodies using the Lake, Ice, Snow, and Sediment Simulator within the Community Land Model under a high-emissions scenario (RCP8.5) by the end of the 21st century. Simulations indicate widespread increases in seasonal mean 𝐸 across all climate regions and seasons, but these increases are strongly asymmetric, with disproportionately large enhancements during warm seasons in arid and temperate climates. This asymmetry amplifies the absolute seasonal range of 𝐸 , particularly at mid-latitudes. However, when normalized by mean 𝐸 , seasonal contrasts increase more slowly than the mean state, indicating a systematic redistribution of 𝐸 across seasons rather than a uniform scaling of the seasonal cycle. Attribution analyses using generalized additive models show that net radiation is the dominant contributor to both absolute seasonal amplification and normalized seasonal redistribution, highlighting the primary role of energy availability. Changes in wind speed exert a secondary but important influence on normalized seasonal redistribution, especially in temperate regions, while changes in vapour pressure deficit contribute relatively little to seasonal reorganization despite their importance for mean 𝐸 increases. These results indicate that climate warming reshapes the seasonality of inland open-water 𝐸 through energy-driven and aerodynamic processes, with implications for interpreting future changes in inland water balance, thermal dynamics, and seasonal water availability beyond annual-mean metrics.