Implementing Crop Evapotranspiration in RDI for Farm-Level Drought Evaluation and Adaptation under Climate Change Condit
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Implementing Crop Evapotranspiration in RDI for Farm-Level Drought Evaluation and Adaptation under Climate Change Conditions Dimitris Tigkas 1
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& Harris Vangelis & George Tsakiris
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Received: 19 February 2020 / Accepted: 3 June 2020/ # Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract
Agricultural drought is a natural hazard, often leading to significant crop yield losses and jeopardising food security. Climate change is anticipated to increase the duration and the magnitude of drought events, augmenting also their adverse effects. Recent studies, as well as policy initiatives, emphasise the need of proper farm-level management, for efficient mitigation of drought effects and adaptation to climate change. Towards this objective, robust, practical and comprehensible tools should be employed to support decision making process. In this paper, the Crop Reconnaissance Drought Index (CRDI) is introduced, aiming at assisting in agricultural drought analyses, focusing on specific crops. The proposed CRDI is an adjustment of the widely used Reconnaissance Drought Index (RDI), in which the utilised parameter of reference evapotranspiration is replaced by crop evapotranspiration. Along with this amendment, other issues regarding the calculation of CRDI are discussed, such as the selection of appropriate reference periods and methods of crop evapotranspiration assessment. The significance and the advantages of CRDI are illustrated through an application, considering different crops under Mediterranean conditions, in three regions of Greece. Keywords Crop Reconnaissance Drought Index (CRDI) . Farm-level drought adaptation . Crop evapotranspiration . Agricultural drought . Drought indices . Climate change
1 Introduction According to several studies and reports, there is strong evidence that the anticipated climate change will cause more intense and prolonged droughts in many parts of the globe (IPCC 2012;
* Dimitris Tigkas [email protected]
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Centre for the Assessment of Natural Hazards and Proactive Planning & Laboratory of Reclamation Works and Water Resources Management, School of Rural and Surveying Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, Athens, Greece
Tigkas D. et al.
EEA 2017). One of the most vulnerable sectors to drought episodes is agriculture, while proper agricultural water management is an important issue due to the expected intensification of the existing risks (Iglesias and Garrote 2015). The increased drought risk may induce uncertainty for water availability, affecting the sustainability of irrigated agriculture (Minhas et al. 2020). Farm-level adaptation to climate change is a crucial aspect for retaining sustainable agriculture, especially in regions with higher anticipated impacts on specific crops (Mylopoulos et al. 2009; Saadi et al. 2015), while appropriate in-field improvements and eco-efficient actions based on rational analysis will have positive effects on a farmer’s individual utility (de Frutos Cachorro et al. 2018; Maia et al. 2016; Cetinkaya et al. 2008). Recently, the European Unio
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