Analysis of meteorological variables influence on the growing season in Europe

Using remote sensing data to assess plant phenology is a useful method for monitoring areas at larger spatial scales. One of the most widely used methods for analyzing changes in the timing of the growing season is the employment of vegetation indices and phenological metrics (phenometrics) derived from them. Using phenometrics, it is possible to evaluate changes in the growing season for different land covers and different environmental conditions not only at the local level but also in larger areas. At the larger scales, the meteorological conditions and especially their influence on plant phenology can be more diverse. For the determination of basic phenometrics (the start of the growing season (SOS), the end of the growing season (EOS), and the length of the growing season (LGS)), we used Enhanced Vegetation Index2 (EVI2) derived from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) imagery. Phenometrics and their trends were calculated for four different land covers (arable land, broad-leaved forest, coniferous forest, and grassland) in the time period from 2000 to 2022 in the central European region. Furthermore, the changes in the timing of the growing season were calculated in different altitude and environmental zones and their trends were compared with meteorological variables (e.g., minimum and maximum air temperature, length of day, global radiation, precipitation, soil moisture, etc.). Based on this analysis, the main factors influencing phenological changes for different land covers were evaluated in different environmental conditions.

Acknowledgment: This work was supported by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic (grant AdAgriF - Advanced methods of greenhouse gases emission reduction and sequestration in agriculture and forest landscape for climate change mitigation (CZ.02.01.01/00/22_008/0004635).