The analysis of climatic indicators using different growing season calculation methods – an application to grapevine grown in Hungary

Abstract

The precise knowledge of the beginning and the end of the growing season is necessary for the calculation of climatic indicators with evident effect on grapevine production. The aim of this study is to develop suitable methods on the basis of thermal conditions that can be used for calculation of the beginning, the end, and the length of the growing season for every single year. The two most accurate methods ('5mid' and 'int') are selected using the root-mean-square error compared to the reference growing season values based on averaging the daily mean temperature for several decades. In case of the '5mid' method, the beginning (or the end) is the middle day of the first (or last) 5-day period with temperature not less than 10 °C. In case of the 'int' method, the beginning (or the end) of the growing season is the day after March 15 (or September 15), when the smoothed series of daily temperature using the monthly average temperatures of March and April (or September and October) exceeds 10 °C (or falls below 10 °C). As a next step, several climatic indicators (e.g., Huglin index and hydrothermal coefficient) are calculated for Hungary for three time periods (1961−1990, 2021−2050, and 2071−2100*) using the '5mid' and 'int' methods. For this purpose, the bias-corrected daily mean, minimum, and maximum temperature and daily precipitation outputs of three different regional climate models (RegCM, ALADIN, and PRECIS) are used. Extreme temperature and precipitation

Modifications in climate suitability for wine production of Romanian wine regions as a result of climate change

“…According to our data the highest increases in ta occur in the western part of Romania where the CMH and BH wine regions are located and these increases are of +213 • C for the CMH and of +208 • C for the BH. These outcomes are consistent with the data reported by [15] for this part of Romania, but also with the ones revealed by a regional study covering the western part of Romania as well carried out in Hungary by [26]. The lowest temperature increases are recorded in the wine regions from the southern part of Romania (+187 • C for the MOH and 190 • C for the STS), which during the 1961-1990 were the warmest.…”

“…In the case of DH, DT, STS, MOH and MH wine regions, where the past IAOe Max was already suitable for red wine production, the current Max maintains in the same suitability class but with higher values (Table 4). This indicates a climate evolution towards a predominance of suitability for the red wine production in Romania as well, which corresponds to the predictions of climatologists who studied the perspectives of climate suitability for wine production in the context of climate change for certain regions from the central and eastern part of Europe [26,29,30].…”

Climate Vulnerability and Adaptation Challenges in Szekszárd Wine Region, Hungary

“…However, the southern part of Hungary and SZWR can be described with appr. 2000-2200 • C [57]. In general, red varieties are mainly drought-resistant ones, which make them ideal for growing in more arid conditions, which are predicted for the future.…”

“…First, to analyze the Szekszárd wine region, Hungary, in the face of changing climatic patterns by revealing two crucial elements of climate vulnerability, namely exposure and sensitivity. Studies regarding the Hungarian viticulture sector from climate change can be described with a narrow thematic focus [54][55][56][57][58] and with less attention on adaptation issues. After revising the existing literature, it became apparent that the Szekszárd wine region has not yet been analyzed in terms of climate change issues.…”

Assessment of agrometeorological indices over Southeast Europe in the context of climate change (1961-2018)

“…The changes of the start date over the Carpathian Region in the period 1961-2010 are considered also in Lakatos et al (2013b) evidencing significant shifting to earlier date. Experimenting with different approaches for calculation of DOYB and DOYC, Mesterházy et al (2018) reveal that that the GSL in Hungary becomes significantly longer during the 21st century.…”