Lengthening of the growing season in wheat and maize producing regions
Human-induced increases in atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations have led to rising global temperatures. Here we investigate changes in an annual temperature-based index, the growing season length, defined as the number of days with temperature above 5 °C. We show that over extratropical regions...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2015-09-01
|
| Series: | Weather and Climate Extremes |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212094715000183 |
| _version_ | 1818856528455663616 |
|---|---|
| author | Brigitte Mueller Mathias Hauser Carley Iles Ruksana Haque Rimi Francis W. Zwiers Hui Wan |
| author_facet | Brigitte Mueller Mathias Hauser Carley Iles Ruksana Haque Rimi Francis W. Zwiers Hui Wan |
| author_sort | Brigitte Mueller |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Human-induced increases in atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations have led to rising global temperatures. Here we investigate changes in an annual temperature-based index, the growing season length, defined as the number of days with temperature above 5 °C. We show that over extratropical regions where wheat and maize are harvested, the increase in growing season length from 1956 to 2005 can be attributed to increasing greenhouse gas concentrations. Our analyses also show that climate change has increased the probability of extremely long growing seasons by a factor of 25, and decreased the probability of extremely short growing seasons. A lengthening of the growing season in regions with these mostly rain-fed crops could improve yields, provided that water availability does not become an issue. An expansion of areas with more than 150 days of growing season into the northern latitudes makes more land potentially available for planting wheat and maize. Furthermore, double-cropping can become an alternative to current practices in areas with very long growing seasons which are also shown to increase with a warming climate. These results suggest that there is a strong impact of anthropogenic climate change on growing season length. However, in some regions and with further exacerbated climate change, high temperatures may already be or may become a limiting factor for plant productivity. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-19T08:25:56Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1bc7e87275fe453e8e207dd53304b267 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2212-0947 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-19T08:25:56Z |
| publishDate | 2015-09-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Weather and Climate Extremes |
| spelling | doaj.art-1bc7e87275fe453e8e207dd53304b2672022-12-21T20:29:17ZengElsevierWeather and Climate Extremes2212-09472015-09-019C475610.1016/j.wace.2015.04.001Lengthening of the growing season in wheat and maize producing regionsBrigitte Mueller0Mathias Hauser1Carley Iles2Ruksana Haque Rimi3Francis W. Zwiers4Hui Wan5Climate Research Division, Environment Canada, Toronto, CanadaInstitute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, ETH Zurich, SwitzerlandUniversity of Edinburgh, UKEnvironmental Change Institute, Oxford University, Oxford, UKPacific Climate Impacts Consortium, University of Victoria, Victoria, CanadaClimate Research Division, Environment Canada, Toronto, CanadaHuman-induced increases in atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations have led to rising global temperatures. Here we investigate changes in an annual temperature-based index, the growing season length, defined as the number of days with temperature above 5 °C. We show that over extratropical regions where wheat and maize are harvested, the increase in growing season length from 1956 to 2005 can be attributed to increasing greenhouse gas concentrations. Our analyses also show that climate change has increased the probability of extremely long growing seasons by a factor of 25, and decreased the probability of extremely short growing seasons. A lengthening of the growing season in regions with these mostly rain-fed crops could improve yields, provided that water availability does not become an issue. An expansion of areas with more than 150 days of growing season into the northern latitudes makes more land potentially available for planting wheat and maize. Furthermore, double-cropping can become an alternative to current practices in areas with very long growing seasons which are also shown to increase with a warming climate. These results suggest that there is a strong impact of anthropogenic climate change on growing season length. However, in some regions and with further exacerbated climate change, high temperatures may already be or may become a limiting factor for plant productivity.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212094715000183Growing season lengthClimate changeDetectionAttributionCrop production |
| spellingShingle | Brigitte Mueller Mathias Hauser Carley Iles Ruksana Haque Rimi Francis W. Zwiers Hui Wan Lengthening of the growing season in wheat and maize producing regions Weather and Climate Extremes Growing season length Climate change Detection Attribution Crop production |
| title | Lengthening of the growing season in wheat and maize producing regions |
| title_full | Lengthening of the growing season in wheat and maize producing regions |
| title_fullStr | Lengthening of the growing season in wheat and maize producing regions |
| title_full_unstemmed | Lengthening of the growing season in wheat and maize producing regions |
| title_short | Lengthening of the growing season in wheat and maize producing regions |
| title_sort | lengthening of the growing season in wheat and maize producing regions |
| topic | Growing season length Climate change Detection Attribution Crop production |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212094715000183 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT brigittemueller lengtheningofthegrowingseasoninwheatandmaizeproducingregions AT mathiashauser lengtheningofthegrowingseasoninwheatandmaizeproducingregions AT carleyiles lengtheningofthegrowingseasoninwheatandmaizeproducingregions AT ruksanahaquerimi lengtheningofthegrowingseasoninwheatandmaizeproducingregions AT franciswzwiers lengtheningofthegrowingseasoninwheatandmaizeproducingregions AT huiwan lengtheningofthegrowingseasoninwheatandmaizeproducingregions |