Inter-annual variability and trends of the frost-free season characteristics over Central and Southeast Europe in 1950-2019

Abstract

Agriculture and forestry are two economic sectors most dependent on climate, and climate change has a direct and indirect impact on biotic and abiotic disturbances with strong implications. The air temperature is one of the major environmental factors affecting growth, development, and yields of crops. Despite the undeniable global warming, damage to crops by frost and freezing temperatures causes serious loss to farmers in many parts of the world. The frostfree season has a large influence on plant phenology, with implications for the distribution of natural vegetation and the types of crops grown in a particular region. The present study is dedicated to the climatology of the frost-free season over Central and Southeast Europe in the second half of the previous and the first two decades of this century. The climatology of the frost-free season is characterized by three indicators, namely the date of the last spring frost, the date of the first autumn frost, and the length of the frost-free season. Additionally, the middle date of the frost-free season as measure of the seasonal shift is analysed. The study, which is performed for the thresholds of -2.2 °C and 0 °C, reveals non-negligible lengthening of the frost-free season, associated primarily with an earlier date of last spring frost rather than a delayed date of first autumn frost.

Signaling and protection systems in the adaptation of plants to cold

“…Ambient temperature is one of the most important factors determining the growth, development, and distribution of plants in specific climatic zones. Despite the fact that in recent decades there has been an increase in the average annual temperature, for most European countries, the urgency of the problem of cold and frost resistance of plants has not only not diminished, but is even growing (Chervenkov and Slavov, 2022).…”

The Impact of Climate Change on the Spatiotemporal Distribution of Early Frost in Maize Due to the Northeast Cold Vortex

“…In the Iberian Peninsula, the occurrence of spring frost has been advanced by 0.4-1.2 days per year, and autumn frost has been delayed by 0.4-1.0 days per year. In Romania, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Poland in central and eastern Europe, where frost days typically occur in late October, the frost-free period from 1990 to 2019 was longer compared to 1950-1979; however, this was primarily due to earlier final frost (spring frost), although there were slight delays in early frost that were not significant [30][31][32]. The onset of the early frost in Northern China has gradually been delayed under the influence of climate change.…”