Hydrological regimes are fundamental for analyzing land-atmosphere (LA) interactions. These regimes are delineated into water- and energy-limited regime by estimating their critical soil moisture (theta*) threshold using the evaporative fraction (EF), temporal rate of soil moisture (theta) drying (d theta/dt), and diurnal soil temperature range (dT(soil)). However, the impact of inconsistencies stemming from theta* on our understanding of LA feedbacks has not yet been examined. The present work, for the first time, conducts a comprehensive intercomparison of theta*, regime properties (persistence, chances of transitioning, and temporal similarity), and LA coupling strength estimated using covariability of EF, d theta/dt, and dT(soil) with theta. We find that theta*(dTsoil), theta*(EF) and theta*(d theta/dt) are in close agreement in semi-arid and sub-humid climatic regions characterized by herbaceous vegetation. dT(soil) results in higher persistence of water-limited regime and less frequent regime transitioning compared to EF and d theta/dt. However, theta*(dTsoil) identifies similar regimes for >80% of the time in 84% of regime transitioning regions. The tipping potential of regimes identified by theta*(dTsoil), theta*(EF) and theta*(d theta/dt), and is lowest during the dry seasons, which increases during the summer. dT(soil )identifies stronger LA coupling over western USA, south-central Australia and peninsular India, compared to EF and d theta/dt. Central Asian grasslands are identified to have mild LA coupling using dT(soil), while EF and d theta/dt do not indicate notable coupling. Overall, dT(soil) represents a viable proxy for EF and d theta/dt toward enhancing the understanding of local LA coupling with potential applications in assessing ecosystem responses, evolution of dry extreme events, and land surface modeling.