Climate data analysis
From the attributes in the climate
database, monthly totals of reference evapotranspiration (ETo)
,
are calculated for each grid-cell according to the Penman-Monteith equation
(FAO, 1992b). A water-balance model, comparing moisture supply to crops from
precipitation and storage in soils with potential evapotranspiration, provides
estimations of actual evapotranspiration (ETa) ,
and length of growing period
(LGP). The LGP calculations
also provide the number and type of growing periods per year, starting and ending
dates, and moisture excess and deficits.
Moisture regime
Thermal regimes (TR) are quantified for each grid-cell in terms of four kinds of attributes , namely: thermal climates, temperature profiles, temperature growing periods (LGPt), and accumulated temperature (TS) calculated for various base temperatures both over an entire year as well as over growing period days.
