EGU24-20715, updated on 27 Mar 2024
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-20715
EGU General Assembly 2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Agroclimatic zoning methodology for selection of suitable crop in water limited Mediterranean areas

Ioannis Faraslis1, Nicolas Dalezios1, Nicolas Alpanakis1, Georgios Tziatzios1, Marios Spiliotopoulos1, Stavros Sakellariou1, Pantelis Sidiropoulos1, Nicholas Dercas2, and Vagelis Brissimis1
Ioannis Faraslis et al.
  • 1University of Thessaly , Department of Civil Engineering, Greece (faraslis@uth.gr)
  • 2Agricultural University of Athens

The agroclimatic classification identifies zones for efficient use of natural resources leading to optimal crop production. In water limited availability regions, such as the Mediterranean region, one problem is the quantification of water use in agriculture in view of the social problems linked to the performance of irrigated systems. The aim of this paper is the development of agricultural sustainable zones, in a typical water limited Mediterranean region, namely Thessaly in Greece. To achieve this, time series analysis with sophisticated geoinformatics techniques is applied. The agroclimatic classification methodology is based on three-stages: first, the microclimate features of the region are considered using aridity and vegetation health indices leading to water limited growth environment (WLGE) zones based on water availability; second, landform features and soil types are associated to WLGE zones to identify non-crop specific agroclimatic zones (NCSAZ); finally, specific restricted crop parameters, are combined with NCSAZ creating the suitability zones for sustainable agriculture. The results are promising as compared with the current crop production systems of the study area under investigation. Due to climate change, the results indicate that arid and semi-arid regions are also faced with insufficient amounts of precipitation for supporting rainfed annual crops. Finally, the proposed methodology reveals that the combination of Remotely Sensed techniques could be a significant tool for creating, shortly, detailed and up to date agroclimatic zones.

Keywords: Agroclimatic zoning; Hydroclimatic zoning; Non-crop specific zoning; Crop-specific zoning; Agricultural suitability zones, Mediterranean agroecosystems

How to cite: Faraslis, I., Dalezios, N., Alpanakis, N., Tziatzios, G., Spiliotopoulos, M., Sakellariou, S., Sidiropoulos, P., Dercas, N., and Brissimis, V.: Agroclimatic zoning methodology for selection of suitable crop in water limited Mediterranean areas, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-20715, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-20715, 2024.

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