Dynamics of climate changes and its effect on the performance of cereals according to satellite data

Aim. To study the effect of climate changes on the performance of cereals. Methods. Remote, statistical, and
analytic methods. Climate changes were determined by the sum of radiation temperatures of the earth’s surface,
calculated using the data of the infrared range (10.3–11.3; 11.4–12.4 μm) of the high precision radiometer AVHRR
of the meteorological satellites of the Earth, NOAA. The effect of climate changes on the state of vegetation,
including the phenological parameters, such as the beginning, the end, and the length of the vegetation peri-
od, was determined by the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) obtained using the data of infrared
(0.72–1.1 μm) and red (0.58–0.68 μm) ranges of the abovementioned radiometer. The satellite data are openly
accessed on the website of STAR NESDIS NOAA – Satellite Applications and Research of NOAA’s National En-
vironmental Satellite Data Information Services of the National Ocean and Atmosphere Research Department of
the USA – http://www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/smcd/emb/vci/VH/. The dynamics of СО2 concentration in the air was
determined using the satellite data of AIRS/Aqua (https://disc.gsfc.nasa.gov/datasets/AIRS3C2M_005/summary),
the precipitation dynamics – using the data of ERA5 ECMWF/Copernicus Climate Change Service (https://devel-
opers.google.com/earth-engine/datasets/catalog/ECMWF_ERA5_MONTHLY#description). The association be-
tween the performance of cereals and satellite data was found by the method of correlation and regression analysis.
Results. Using the satellite data, it was found that in 1982–2021, the sum of radiation temperatures of the earth’s
surface reliably increased in the vegetation period (April–September), and the amount of precipitation tended to
decrease in the zones of Polissia, Forest-Steppe, and Steppe. The highest tempo of warming was observed in the
territory of the Steppe. In general, the warming had a positive effect on the state of vegetation, according to NDVI,
and on the performance of cereals. However, in the recent decade (2010–2020), the positive effect of the warming
on the vegetation state decreased, and according to the NDVI trend, there has been a tendency towards the negative
effect of the further increase in the temperature, which is especially remarkable for the Steppe and Forest-Steppe.
On the contrary, the warming in the Polissia zone created the conditions for the increase in the performance of agri-
cultural cereals. Conclusions. From 1982 till 2021, there was a strong tendency towards the increase in the sum of
radiation temperatures of the earth’s surface in the vegetation period and the decrease in the precipitation amount
in Polissia, Forest-Steppe, and Steppe. According to the NDVI data, due to the warming, the length of the vegeta-
tion period increased by 14–21 days on average, which had a positive effect on the vegetation. Since 2010, the
acceleration in the warming tempo has been observed. The average annual increase in the sum of the radiation tem-
peratures of the earth’s surface in the vegetation period is 15–16 °С – for Polissia, 14–18 °С for the Forest-Steppe,
and 18–20 °С for the Steppe. According to this tendency, if the current regularity in the temperature increase in
1982–2021 is preserved in the nearest future, the temperature of the vegetation period will additionally increase,
and the average sum of temperatures of the earth’s surface will reach 4000 °С in Polissia, which was notable for
the Forest-Steppe in 1982–2021, 4440–4600 °С – in the Forest-Steppe, and up to 5800–5900 °С in the Steppe. In
1982–2000, there was a strong regularity of the positive effect of the warming during the vegetation period both
on the vegetation state according to the NDVI index, and the performance of cereals in all three natural climatic
zones. However, after 2000, due to the negative effect of high summer temperatures on the crops, the effect of the
warming on vegetation considerably decreased, which was especially notable for the Steppe where the increase in
NDVI compared to the previous period was on average 9.41 % in 1992–2001, and in 2012–2021 – 1.78 %.