MARS Bulletin Vol.21 No. 12JRC.H.4-Monitoring Agricultural Resource

BUSSAY ATTILA

FONTANA GIOVANNA

VAN DEN BERG MAURITS

JRC Publications Repository

Crop Monitoring in Europe
Joint
Research
Centre
MARS BULLETIN Vol.21 No. 12 (2013)
Considering the ten days weather forecast until 23 December, the 
winter cereals will complete hardening in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus; 
and frost tolerance will increase significantly in the eastern regions of 
Poland and the Baltic countries for the last dekad of December. Frost 
kill events are unlikely to happen during this period.
Hardening is well advanced in southern Germany, the south-western 
half of the Czech Republic, as well as in northern Europe, most of 
Belarus, in the Central Okrug of Russia and some areas in northern 
and eastern Ukraine. Winter crops are partially hardened in a wide 
region extending from the British Isles and Spain to the Black Sea. No 
or slight low-temperature tolerance has been reached in the southern 
Mediterranean regions. No frost kill has been simulated so far in 
Europe. 
No frost kill expected in the near future
1
Agro-meteorological
overview 
Period covered: 1 November - 10 December
Issued: 16 December 2013
The decreasing 
temperatures of late 
autumn and early winter 
initiated the hardening 
of winter cereals. During 
this process, the freezing 
point of plant cellular 
liquids decreases, thus 
increasing the tolerance 
of winter crops to low-
temperatures, which is 
crucial to survive harsh 
winter conditions. Our 
model simulation results 
indicate some delay in 
hardening in central and 
eastern areas of Europe 
due to the mild thermal 
conditions of the last 
two months. Winter 
wheat has reached 
almost maximum winter 
tolerance in the Near 
Volga District, and some 
areas in Finland, Sweden 
and eastern Turkey. 
2 MARS BULLETIN Vol.21 No. 12 (2013) 
During November, Europe was divided in two parts: Above-
average temperatures prevailed in the east, and also in Italy, 
while normal or subnormal temperatures prevailed in the 
west. Daily air temperatures exceeded the average by 4-6°C 
in Russia, Ukraine, Romania and the eastern part of Belarus; 
and by 2-4°C in the Baltic countries, Finland, and in the region 
between the Black Sea and the Balkan Peninsula. By contrast, 
negative average temperature anomalies in the range of -0.5 
to -2°C were observed in central and southern France, the UK, 
Spain and southern Portugal. The first dekad of December was 
characterised by colder-than-usual weather conditions over 
Europe. The mean daily air temperature was 6 to 8°C below 
the long-term average over northern Russia, the Scandinavian 
Peninsula and Turkey, and 2 to 4°C below the long-term 
average in the Iberian Peninsula, France, northern and central 
Italy, the Balkan Peninsula, Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria. 
The coldest period was recorded between 28 November and 4 
Cumulated rainfall recorded in November exceeded the 
long-term average, by more than 50% in south-western and 
northern parts of France,  northern Spain, central and southern 
Italy, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Greek, southern Poland, Bela-
rus and the western part of Russia. In contrast, the Iberian 
Peninsula and Ireland were much drier than usual, with 
cumulated rainfall up to 80% below average. Below-average 
rainfall was also observed in Ukraine and Turkey. During the 
first dekad of December drier than usual conditions continued 
over the Iberian Peninsula, and were also observed in France, 
the southern part of the United Kingdom, the Benelux 
Countries, southern Germany, northern and central Italy and 
also in the area between the Balkan Peninsula and the Black 
December with minimum temperatures in the range of -10 - 
-15°C in Russia, Belarus and northern Europe, and in the range 
of -6 - -10°C in some areas of the eastern Europe, southern 
Germany, central France, northern Spain, the Alpine region 
and the Balkan Peninsula. The cumulated active temperatures 
(Tbase=0°C) since the beginning of September remained 
above the average over whole Europe, with the exception of 
Turkey and the eastern part of the Black Sea region.
Sea region. During this period rainfall was scarce or absent 
(<5 mm) in the Iberian Peninsula, southern France, northern 
Italy, Slovenia, Hungary and the eastern part of Romania. 
Rainfall was slightly above average in northern Europe. In the 
period from 29 November to 3 December, cumulated rainfall 
above 100 were recorded in Basilicata, Puglia and Calabria 
(south Italy), causing floods.
Agro-meteorological overview (1 November – 10 December)
Observed temperatures
Observed rainfall 
During November warmer-than-usual weather conditions 
prevailed in eastern Europe and above-average precipitation 
was recorded in central Europe and northern Russia. December 
started with temperatures below the average across Europe 
and drier than usual conditions in the Mediterranean region 
and western Europe.
3MARS BULLETIN Vol.21 No. 12 (2013) 
Agro-meteorological overview (1 November – 10 December)
2013 MARS Bulletins
Date Publication  Reference
21 Jan Agromet. analysis Vol. 21 No. 1
25 Feb Agromet. analysis Vol. 21 No. 2
25 Mar Agromet. analysis and 
 yield forecast Vol. 21 No. 3
22 Apr Agromet. analysis, remote
 sensing analysis, and yield
 forecast Vol. 21 No.4
21 May Agromet. analysis, remote
 sensing analysis, and yield 
 forecast, pasture analysis Vol. 21 No. 5
17 Jun Agromet. analysis, remote
 sensing analysis, and yield 
 forecast, pasture update Vol. 21 No. 6
22 Jul Agromet. analysis, remote 
 sensing analysis, and yield 
 forecast, pasture update, 
 rice analysis Vol. 21 No. 7
26 Aug Agromet. analysis and yield 
 forecast, pasture update Vol. 21 No. 8
16 Sep Agromet. analysis, remote
 sensing analysis and yield 
 forecast, pasture update Vol. 21 No. 9
21 Oct Agromet. analysis, remote 
 sensing analysis and yield 
 forecast, pasture analysis, 
 rice analysis Vol. 21 No. 10
25 Nov Agromet. analysis, campaign 
 review and yield forecast Vol. 21 No. 11
16 Dec Agromet. analysis Vol. 21 No. 12
A great deal of additional information on the European Union is 
available on the Internet. It can be accessed through the Europa 
server http://europa.eu.
Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union
© European Union, 2013
Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged.
Printed in Italy
As the Commission’s in-house science service, the Joint 
Research Centre’s mission is to provide EU policies with 
independent, evidence-based scientific and technical support 
throughout the whole policy cycle. Working in close cooperation 
with policy Directorates-General, the JRC addresses key societal 
challenges while stimulating innovation through developing new 
standards, methods and tools, and sharing and transferring its 
know-how to the Member States and international community.
The mission of the JRC-IES is to provide scientific-technical 
support to the European Union’s policies for the protection and 
sustainable development of the European and global
The current MARS* Bulletin is an EC publication from 
AGRI4CAST (JRC/IES MARS Unit)
All MARS Bulletins are available under: 
http://mars.jrc.ec.europa.eu/mars/Bulletins-Publications
MARS agro-meteorological data is available at
http://www.marsop.info
Analysis and reports    
A. Bussay, G. Fontana
Reporting support
G. Mulhern 
Edition 
B. Baruth, M. Van den Berg
Data production
MARS unit AGRI4CAST/JRC, ALTERRA (NL), 
Meteoconsult (NL) and VITO (BE)
Contact 
JRC–IES-MARS / AGRI4CAST Action
info-agri4cast@jrc.ec.europa.eu
JRC 78477
EUR 24736 EN
ISSN 2314-9736 
© European Union 2013
*MARS stands for Monitoring Agricultural Resources  
Legal Notice                   
Neither the European Commission nor any person acting on 
behalf of the Commission is responsible for the use which 
might be made of this publication.
Disclaimer 
The geographic borders are purely a graphical representation 
and are only intended to be indicative. The boundaries do 
not necessarily reflect the official EC position.  
Technical note:
The long term average (LTA) used within this Bulletin as a 
reference is based on an archive of data covering 1975-
2012.
LB-AM
-13-012-EN
-N


MARS Bulletin Vol.21 No. 12

http://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/bitstream/JRC78477/mars%20bulletin%20vol21%20no12.pdf

MARS Bulletin Vol.21 No. 12

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

JRC Publications Repository