Recent decades have seen the proliferation of multiple large-scale eddy covariance tower networks (e.g., AmeriFlux, AsiaFlux, ChinaFlux, ICOS, JapanFlux, LTER, NEON, OzFlux), consisting of nearly 2155 past and currently operating sites worldwide. These networks show great potential to advance our understanding of ecology in a changing world. However, ecological research utilizing these vast networks has largely focused on carbon fluxes, despite the fact that most of these sites also measure latent heat flux and evapotranspiration. Moreover, these flux measurements are infrequently paired with other water cycle measurements such as soil moisture, plant water potential, or water table dynamics. Such measurements can be collected at scales ranging from individuals to ecosystems and are necessary to advance our understanding of the coupling of carbon and water cycles, in addition to the changes to hydrology imposed by climate change.This session, organized as part of the AmeriFlux Year of the Water theme, promotes new ideas on how to better utilize water measurements from flux tower sites. These range from novel approaches to partition evapotranspiration, to quantifying the impact of plant hydraulic traits on the water cycle, to the benefits of these measurements for improving our understanding of drought detection and carbon cycle uncertainties. An increasing focus on these emerging approaches to characterize various aspects of the water cycle show great promise in increasing our knowledge of ongoing and future changes to the biosphere.