Severity of drought and heatwave crop losses tripled over the last five decades in Europe
Extreme weather disasters (EWDs) can jeopardize domestic food supply and disrupt commodity markets. However, historical impacts on European crop production associated with droughts, heatwaves, floods, and cold waves are not well understood—especially in view of potential adverse trends in the severi...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2021-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abf004 |
| _version_ | 1797747702365159424 |
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| author | Teresa Armada Brás Júlia Seixas Nuno Carvalhais Jonas Jägermeyr |
| author_facet | Teresa Armada Brás Júlia Seixas Nuno Carvalhais Jonas Jägermeyr |
| author_sort | Teresa Armada Brás |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Extreme weather disasters (EWDs) can jeopardize domestic food supply and disrupt commodity markets. However, historical impacts on European crop production associated with droughts, heatwaves, floods, and cold waves are not well understood—especially in view of potential adverse trends in the severity of impacts due to climate change. Here, we combine observational agricultural data (FAOSTAT) with an extreme weather disaster database (EM-DAT) between 1961 and 2018 to evaluate European crop production responses to EWD. Using a compositing approach (superposed epoch analysis), we show that historical droughts and heatwaves reduced European cereal yields on average by 9% and 7.3%, respectively, associated with a wide range of responses (inter-quartile range +2% to −23%; +2% to −17%). Non-cereal yields declined by 3.8% and 3.1% during the same set of events. Cold waves led to cereal and non-cereal yield declines by 1.3% and 2.6%, while flood impacts were marginal and not statistically significant. Production losses are largely driven by yield declines, with no significant changes in harvested area. While all four event frequencies significantly increased over time, the severity of heatwave and drought impacts on crop production roughly tripled over the last 50 years, from −2.2% (1964–1990) to −7.3% (1991–2015). Drought-related cereal production losses are shown to intensify by more than 3% yr ^−1 . Both the trend in frequency and severity can possibly be explained by changes in the vulnerability of the exposed system and underlying climate change impacts. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:54:24Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-156701373cbb4ee18ea7df8c9687db2e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:54:24Z |
| publishDate | 2021-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-156701373cbb4ee18ea7df8c9687db2e2023-08-09T14:58:20ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262021-01-0116606501210.1088/1748-9326/abf004Severity of drought and heatwave crop losses tripled over the last five decades in EuropeTeresa Armada Brás0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6755-5586Júlia Seixas1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0355-0465Nuno Carvalhais2https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0465-1436Jonas Jägermeyr3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8368-0018CENSE—Center for Environmental and Sustainability Research, NOVA School of Science and Technology, NOVA University Lisbon , Caparica, PortugalCENSE—Center for Environmental and Sustainability Research, NOVA School of Science and Technology, NOVA University Lisbon , Caparica, PortugalCENSE—Center for Environmental and Sustainability Research, NOVA School of Science and Technology, NOVA University Lisbon , Caparica, Portugal; Department Biogeochemical Integration, Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry , Jena, GermanyGoddard Institute for Space Studies, NASA , New York, NY, United States of America; The Earth Institute, Columbia University , New York, NY, United States of America; Climate Resilience, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Member of the Leibniz Association , Potsdam, GermanyExtreme weather disasters (EWDs) can jeopardize domestic food supply and disrupt commodity markets. However, historical impacts on European crop production associated with droughts, heatwaves, floods, and cold waves are not well understood—especially in view of potential adverse trends in the severity of impacts due to climate change. Here, we combine observational agricultural data (FAOSTAT) with an extreme weather disaster database (EM-DAT) between 1961 and 2018 to evaluate European crop production responses to EWD. Using a compositing approach (superposed epoch analysis), we show that historical droughts and heatwaves reduced European cereal yields on average by 9% and 7.3%, respectively, associated with a wide range of responses (inter-quartile range +2% to −23%; +2% to −17%). Non-cereal yields declined by 3.8% and 3.1% during the same set of events. Cold waves led to cereal and non-cereal yield declines by 1.3% and 2.6%, while flood impacts were marginal and not statistically significant. Production losses are largely driven by yield declines, with no significant changes in harvested area. While all four event frequencies significantly increased over time, the severity of heatwave and drought impacts on crop production roughly tripled over the last 50 years, from −2.2% (1964–1990) to −7.3% (1991–2015). Drought-related cereal production losses are shown to intensify by more than 3% yr ^−1 . Both the trend in frequency and severity can possibly be explained by changes in the vulnerability of the exposed system and underlying climate change impacts.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abf004extreme weather disastersobservational crop responsesEuropean agriculturecomposite analysisclimate change impacts |
| spellingShingle | Teresa Armada Brás Júlia Seixas Nuno Carvalhais Jonas Jägermeyr Severity of drought and heatwave crop losses tripled over the last five decades in Europe Environmental Research Letters extreme weather disasters observational crop responses European agriculture composite analysis climate change impacts |
| title | Severity of drought and heatwave crop losses tripled over the last five decades in Europe |
| title_full | Severity of drought and heatwave crop losses tripled over the last five decades in Europe |
| title_fullStr | Severity of drought and heatwave crop losses tripled over the last five decades in Europe |
| title_full_unstemmed | Severity of drought and heatwave crop losses tripled over the last five decades in Europe |
| title_short | Severity of drought and heatwave crop losses tripled over the last five decades in Europe |
| title_sort | severity of drought and heatwave crop losses tripled over the last five decades in europe |
| topic | extreme weather disasters observational crop responses European agriculture composite analysis climate change impacts |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abf004 |
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