Normalized Regime Persistence: A Simple Metric to Diagnose Land Feedback States

Abstract Land feedbacks regulate energy flux partitioning and hydroclimatic extremes, yet their global characterization remains constrained by global‐scale robust flux estimates. Here, we introduce a new observation‐driven metric that circumvents multi‐variate flux dependencies by characterizing land feedback states using satellite‐derived soil moisture variability as the only dynamically varying input. Results demonstrate that climatic gradients fundamentally shape the seasonal evolution of three land feedback regimes. Weak coupling dominates arid regions throughout the year, whereas decoupling prevails in humid climates during wet seasons. Dynamically interacting states peak in semi‐arid to sub‐humid regions during pre‐ and post‐rainfall seasons when soil moisture intermittently crosses critical threshold. Analysis using energy flux‐based coupling diagnostics further shows that dynamically coupled states exhibit systematically stronger and more coherent water‐energy coupling, particularly across transitional climates. These findings confirm that the dynamic state is not merely a classification artifact but represents a physically distinct regime with robust and measurable coupling strength.