Fig. 1. Global sensitivity of LAI to soil moisture in the period 1982-2017.

a, b LAI sensitivity to near-surface ($\frac{\partial LAI}{\partial SMnear}$) and to sub-surface soil moisture ($\frac{\partial LAI}{\partial SMsub}$) from observations (Obs), given as respective ensemble means (Methods: Overall sensitivity). c, d Similar to a, b but for land surface models (Model). e, g Mean differences between observational and model results across climate regimes. f, h Spatial coherence between observational and model results inferred by correlation coefficients using sub-regional data across climate regimes. All panels apply the two-sided significance test at the p < 0.01 level as assessed with Theil-sen regressions for each grid cell, and grid cells which pass the significance test are colored according to the sensitivity values in a–d. To note that the results are a descriptive measure, as the field significance is not tested.