Code and data availability. The SVN version of ORCHIDEE-MICT used in this study is 3952, which is available at https://forge. ipsl. jussieu. fr/orchidee/wiki/DevelopmentActivities/ORCHIDEE-MICT-IMBALANCE-P (last access: 19 October 2018). The ORCHIDEE code and scripts of analysis are available by contacting the corresponding author. The GSWP3, PGF, WFDEI, ISMN, GLEAM, and  ESA CCI  datasets are freely available online; for the  CRU-NCEP  and PKU datasets, please contact the corresponding author and  Shilong Piao  (slpiao@pku. edu. cn)respectively. The Supplement related to this article is available online at: https://doi. org/10. 5194/hess-22-5463-2018supplementTeam list. Philippe Ciais  ( Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, CNRS-CEA-UVSQ, Gif-sur-Yvette 91191, France ),  Patrice Dumas  ( Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement ,  Avenue Agropolis , 34398 Montpellier CEDEX 5, France),  Xiaoming Feng  ( State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China ),  Matthieu Guimberteau  ( Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, CNRS-CEA-UVSQ, Gif-sur-Yvette 91191, France; UMR 7619 METIS, Sorbonne Universités, UPMC, CNRS, EPHE, 4 place Jussieu, Paris 75005, France ),  Laurent Li  ( Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique, UPMC/CNRS, IPSL, Paris 75005, France ),  Catherine Ottlé  ( aboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, CNRS-CEA-UVSQ, Gif-sur-Yvette 91191, France ),  Shushi Peng  ( Sino-French Institute for Earth System Science, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China ),  Shilong Piao  ( Sino-French Institute for Earth System Science, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China ),  Jan Polcher  ( Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique, UPMC/CNRS, IPSL, Paris 75005, France ),  Pengfei Shi  ( State Key Laboratory of Hydrology-Water Resources and Hydraulic Engineering, Center for Global Change and Water Cycle, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China ),  Shuai Wang  ( State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China ),  Xuhui Wang  ( Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, CNRS-CEA-UVSQ, Gif-sur-Yvette 91191, France; Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique, UPMC/CNRS, IPSL, Paris 75005, France; Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique, UPMC/CNRS, IPSL, Paris 75005, France; Sino-French Institute for Earth System Science, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China ),  Yi Xi  ( Sino-French Institute for Earth System Science, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China ),  Hui Yang  ( Sino-French Institute for Earth System Science, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China ),  Tao Yang  ( State Key Laboratory of Hydrology-Water Resources and Hydraulic Engineering, Center for Global Change and Water Cycle, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China ),  Zun Yin  ( Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, CNRS-CEA-UVSQ, Gif-sur-Yvette 91191, France ),  Xuanze Zhang  ( Sino-French Institute for Earth System Science, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China ),  Feng Zhou  ( Sino-French Institute for Earth System Science, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China ), and  Xudong Zhou  ( State Key Laboratory of Hydrology-Water Resources and Hydraulic Engineering, Center for Global Change and Water Cycle, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China ).