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In order to highlight the amplitude of climate changes in the southwest of Romania, at Dăbuleni Research - Development Station for Plant Culture on Sands (SCDCPN Dăbuleni), the climatic data from the archives of the own meteorological station were analyzed and processed over a period of 65 years. The dynamics of meteorological phenomena in the period 1956-2020 was analyzed, a sufficiently long period for a meaningful analysis and correct conclusions. Data processing from the 780 months and more than 23,400 data records was the source of our conclusions. Helman's criterion was used to determine the types of thermal and pluviometric time, and as normal climatic averages the averages of the measurements of the climatic parameters of the 65 years were used, the period being significantly extended. The thermal norm in the Dăbuleni area is much higher than in most of Oltenia with monthly summer averages between 21.6 ℃ in June, 23.6 ℃ in July and 23.0 ℃ in August, and the seasonal average summer of 22.8 ℃. Summer heat produces staged forcing of the sweet pepper crop and early and massive ripening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global warming is an unanimously accepted phenomenon by the international scientific community, being already highlighted by the analysis of observational data over long periods of time, with an increase in temperature of over 1 °C. Climate change in Romania is part of the global context, taking into account the regional conditions, with an increasing trend of arid summer. While the link between high temperatures, climate change and rainfall has been modeled in detail, the situation is not the same for plant water accessibility. The period of time between 1898 and the present, corresponding to the annual records of precipitation and evapotranspiration, overlapped with important political and administrative changes in the studied area, and with extensive hydro-amelioration works. The aim of the paper is to statistically follow the evolution over time of precipitation, namely of evapotranspiration measured in Western Romania, which would allow the expression of conclusions regarding the improvement directions of the water regime. In order to follow the evolution in time of these data, the interval of 1898–2019 was divided into three periods: 1898–1950, 1951–1989 and 1990–2019, respectively. The increase in temperature, especially during the vegetation period and the large number of years in which evapotranspiration quantitatively exceeds the precipitation, indicating the need for effective measures to regulate the water balance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of climate change on agricultural systems has become a reality that currently threatens food security in numerous regions worldwide. However, concrete consequences of climate change on agricultural yields still remain unknown in many countries around the world, including Romania. This study conducts a first-ever analysis of the impact of climate change on maize productivity in Romania, the European Union's leader in maize harvested production, which holds almost 30% of the European maize production. The paper explores complex statistical relationships between the climatic water balance (CWB)/its constituting parameters precipitation (P) and reference evapotranspiration (ETo) and maize yields (Zea mays L.) recorded nationally from 1990 to 2013, a key-period in Romania in terms of climate and socio-political changes. The analysis of various agro-climatic data, based on well-established methods (linear regression and bootstrapping), showed that the countrywide dependence of maize yields variability to changes in the analyzed climatic variables was considerable and reached peak values of roughly 60% for the CWB-yield relationship and around 50% for the P-yield and ETo-yield relationships. At the same time, a significant sensitivity of maize yield dynamics was found in response to a 1-unit climate change, which, on average, was quantified at 5 kg/ha/yr for a 1-mm variation of the CWB, and at 19 kg/ha/yr and 11 kg/ha/yr for a 1-mm change in P and ETo, respectively. In addition to this agricultural impact, our findings regarding the economic impact associated to concrete climatic trends (CWB decreases and ETo increases over the 24 years, consistent with an overall increase of the humidity deficit, and P increases, consistent with humidity surplus) indicate total costs of approximately 53 mil € (or almost 1% of the national agricultural gross domestic product) for the CWB-yield relationship, and of ~200 mil € (~3%) for ETo-yield. It was found that the separate influence of P in maize dynamics was positive, with net financial gains of up to ~130 mil € (~2%). However, our findings show that only the economic costs associated with the impact of ETo on maize productivity are highly statistically reliable. Our results issue a warning about the urgent measures to fight climate change effects on agriculture in Romania, which are necessary especially in the counties located in the Extra-Carpathian regions, highly vulnerable to climate dynamics. • Investigation of climate change impact on agricultural yields in Romania after 1990. • Analysis between climatic water balance (CWB)/precipitation (P)/reference evapotranspiration (ETo) and maize yields. • Up to ~60% dependence of maize yields variability to climatic changes, for the CWB – maize yields relationship. • Average sensitivity of 5 kg/ha/yr, 19 kg/ha/yr and 11 kg/ha/yr, for a 1-mm variation of the CWB, P and ETo. • Total economic costs of up to 53 mil €/200 mil €, associated with the negative impact of CWB/ETo on maize yields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]