## 3 Results
### Comparison of Total ET Estimates and Evaporative Stress Index over AOIs
STEPS, GLEAM, and TerraClimate, indicated similar trends, with only TerraClimate showing water stress in July, TSEB in August, and STEPS indicating stress throughout the summer. In contrast, all models agreed on water stress for croplands in Morocco during the same period, with SCOPE and TSEB again showing earlier stress as observed in Egypt. The overlapping responses by models in Morocco are likely due to the dominant role of high atmospheric demand and dry conditions. Ground ET measurements in Morocco would be valuable for verifying this uniform response by all models. The following is inferred:  
1. Over Spain, TSEB, MOD16A2, GLEAM, and TerraClimate are showing consistent trends, giving robust signals of water stress in spring and summer, but this seasonal trend is absent in the case of STEPS and SCOPE, which means they need better parameterization for this climatic region, which is also observed in their ground validations over shrubland sites. 2. Over Egypt, SCOPE's and MOD16A2's behaviors are comparable, whereas models that account for precipitation have collectively shown July as the most stressed month for Egypt (although not severe for STEPS, TSEB, GLEAM, and TerraClimate)
3. Over France, similarity was found between SCOPE-GLEAM, TSEB-MOD16A2, and between STEPS-TerraClimate. These models also showed good accuracy for forest sites. Figure 5: (a) Area-averaged evapotranspiration (ET) from all products computed for specific areas of interest (AOIs) across various locations, representing different ecosystems to compare ET budget estimates from different products, revealing notable discrepancies among ET magnitudes. (b) Monthly time series of the Evaporative Stress Index (ESI) derived from ET products and ERA5-potential ET for assessing water stress in summer across various locations and ecosystems. A robust agreement among all models was observed over croplands in Morocco, which may be due to the dominance of the crop ecosystem or the strong influence of atmospheric demand and dry conditions in summer. Based on these results, the feasibility of using ensemble ET outputs from these models is likely supported for croplands in Morocco. ET estimation remains challenging in the Balkans, where irregular precipitation patterns further complicate the determination of ET trends with the least definite ET seasonality (Figure 4). This evaluation highlights the highly diverse nature of ET across the Mediterranean region, suggesting that a single approach may not be optimal for modeling ET flux, particularly in regions where both energy and water limitations coexist. A pragmatic approach is needed with a combination of methods, necessitating careful consideration of climate clustering or regional segregation during model parameterization (as in Figure 4). Unlike many studies that focus on broad comparisons of annual and monthly ET estimates, this study provides deeper insights into modeled ET at sub-regional, seasonal, and ecosystem scales through its application to water stress assessment via evaporative stress index. Our findings suggest that modeled ET may be unreliable for specific regions, such as the Balkans and Turkey. Significant improvements in model parameterizations are needed in these areas. Given the limited ground observations of ET in North Africa and the eastern Mediterranean region, model validation over this region remains understudied, particularly for desert and oasis ecosystems [14]. We need ongoing model refinement, validation, and integration with ground-based observations to address these limitations and improve ET estimates across the region.