Does the water-energy dynamics control the landscape characteristics and hydrological responses?

Landscape is the explicit features carved by natural and human forcing. With the exception of urban areas or large artificial constructions, most landscapes are implicitly regulated by water-energy dynamics. However, there has been limited systematic exploration of the linkage between water-energy dynamics and landscape features. This study employs the Budyko framework (comprising the aridity index and evaporative index) alongside landscape metrics (including discharge, land cover, and topographic features) to explicitly illustrate how water-energy dynamics sculpt the landscape. K-means classification and ANOVA were utilized for classification and significance testing, respectively. The results indicate that the five classes derived from the aridity and evaporative indices generally correspond to conventional climate zones. Furthermore, the landscape metrics associated with these five classes can be statistically identified. Transitioning from the very humid to arid classes, baseflow indexes dramatically decreased from 0.71 to 0.04. Consequently, discharge variability increased from 0.38 to 0.68. In terms of topographic features, the average basin slope decreased along the humidity gradient. Interestingly, the junction angles of the stream network also decreased in accordance with the declining humidity gradient. It is evident that water-energy dynamics serve as a primary control mechanism in shaping the landscape and regulating its evolution. Under the influence of global warming, potential changes in landscape features can be assessed through the lens of water-energy dynamics.