Professional paper
https://doi.org/10.37982/hmc.54.55.1.5
AGROCLIMATIC CONDITIONS OF THE OSIJEK AREA DURING REFERENT (1961–1990) AND RECENT (1991–2018) CLIMATE PERIODS
DARIJA BILANDŽIJA
orcid.org/0000-0003-0518-0736
; University of Zagreb, Faculty of Agriculture, Zagreb, Croatia
SILVIJA MARTINČIĆ
; University of Zagreb, Faculty of Agriculture, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
One highly important segment of agricultural production is the agroecological condition of a given area, including climatic conditions, which have been changing recently. Croatia belongs to a climate zone also known as a climate hot spot, characterised by a pronounced sensitivity to
climate change. In order to determine if the climate has changed in the Osijek area, climatic elements and agroclimatic indicators were analysed for a referent period (1961∑1990) and a recent period (1991∑2018). The analysis shows that the climate has changed in the recent period as compared to the referent period. The identified climate changes manifest in higher mean air temperatures, higher precipitation amount, increased actual evapotranspiration and prolonged vegetation periods in the recent period. Furthermore, hydrothermal condition analysis shows that the ten warmest years and vegetation periods in the studied 58-year period were within the past 26 years. Due to the identified climate change and the assumption that the climate will continue to change in the future, adaptation and mitigation measures will have to be applied in agricultural production. For a more reliable assessment of agroclimatic conditions at certain area, it is recommended to analyse other climatic elements as well, such as the number of consecutive dry or rainy days above the critical precipitation threshold, wind, solar radiation, insolation, etc.
Keywords
climate change; agroclimatic indicators; precipitation; air temperature; aridity index; evapotranspiration; air temperature thresholds; Osijek; Croatia
Hrčak ID:
264701
URI
Publication date:
1.12.2020.
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