Articles | Volume 14, issue 13
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-3309-2017
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-3309-2017
Research article
 | 
11 Jul 2017
Research article |  | 11 Jul 2017

Bivariate return periods of temperature and precipitation explain a large fraction of European crop yields

Jakob Zscheischler, Rene Orth, and Sonia I. Seneviratne

Data sets

A European daily highresolution gridded data set of surface temperature and precipitation for 1950–2006 (www.ecad.eu/E-OBS/) M. R. Haylock, N. Hofstra, A. M. G. Klein Tank, E. J. Klok, P. D. Jones, and M. New https://doi.org/10.1029/2008JD010201

Download
Short summary
We use newly established methods to compute bivariate return periods of temperature and precipitation and relate those to crop yield variability in Europe. Most often, crop yields are lower when it is hot and dry and higher when it is cold and wet. The variability in crop yields along a specific climate gradient can be captured well by return periods aligned with these gradients. This study provides new possibilities for investigating the relationship between crop yield variability and climate.
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint