Skip to main content
ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #373692
Research Project: Integrating Remote Sensing, Measurements and Modeling for Multi-Scale Assessment of Water Availability, Use, and Quality in Agroecosystems

Location: Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory

Title: Earth observation for agricultural drought monitoring in the Pannonian Basin: current state and future directions

Author
item CROCETTI, L. - Technische Universität Wien
item FORKEL, M. - Collaborator
item FISCHER, M. - Global Change Research Institute
item JURECKA, F - Global Change Research Institute
item GRLJ, A. - Collaborator
item SALENTINIG, A. - Technische Universität Wien
item TRNKA, M. - Mendel University
item Anderson, Martha
item NG, W. - Collaborator
item KOKALJ, Ž. - Collaborator
item BUCUR, A. - Technische Universität Wien
item DORIGO, W.A. - Vienna University Of Technology

Submitted to: Regional Environmental Change
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/10/2020
Publication Date: 10/28/2020
Citation: Crocetti, L., Forkel, M., Fischer, M., Jurecka, F., Grlj, A., Salentinig, A., Trnka, M., Anderson, M.C., Ng, W., Kokalj, Ž., Bucur, A., Dorigo, W. 2020. Earth observation for agricultural drought monitoring in the Pannonian Basin: current state and future directions. Regional Environmental Change. 20:123. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-020-01710-w.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-020-01710-w

Interpretive Summary: The Pannonian Basin is an important agricultural production region in southeast Europe and has been impacted in recent years by several severe droughts resulting in major yield losses. To better identify and mitigate regional drought impacts on agriculture, there has been a recent effort to improve routine drought monitoring capabilities, integrating geospatial products supported by satellite remote sensing. This paper provides an overview of recent drought conditions in the Pannonian Basin, as well as new remote sensing products that could potentially improve regional drought impact monitoring for this geographic area. Efforts to improve seasonal drought forecasts and impacts on agricultural production are also discussed.

Technical Abstract: The Pannonian Basin is a heavily agriculturally used region in southeastern Europe. The region experienced several droughts in the last years, causing major yield losses. With ongoing human-induced climate change characterised by increasing temperature and potential evapotranspiration, and changes in precipitation distribution, drought episodes are likely to become more frequent and intense in the future. Hence, ongoing monitoring of drought events and estimation of their impact on agriculture are necessary to adapt agricultural practices to changing weather and climate extremes. Recently, several regional initiatives, projects and online tools were established to facilitate drought monitoring and management in the Pannonian region. However, reliable systems to forecast potential drought impacts on plant productivity and agricultural yields at monthly to seasonal scales are only in their infancy, as plant response to climatic extremes is still poorly understood. With the increasing availability of high-resolution and long-term Earth Observation (EO) data and recent progress in machine learning and artificial intelligence, further improvements in drought monitoring and impact prediction capacities are expected. Here we review the current state of drought monitoring in the Pannonian Basin, identify EO-based variables to potentially improve regional drought impact monitoring, and outline future perspectives for seasonal forecasts of drought impacts on agriculture.