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Variability of the start of the growing season in Fennoscandia, 1982–2002

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Abstract

Fennoscandia is characterized by a large degree of climatic diversity. Vegetation phenology may respond differently to climate change according to the climatic gradients within the region. To map the annual and spatial variability of the start of the growing season (SOS) in Fennoscandia, the twice-monthly GIMMS-NDVI satellite dataset was used. The data set has an 8 × 8 km2 spatial resolution and covers the period from 1982 to 2002. The mapping was done by applying pixel-specific threshold values to the NDVI data. These threshold values were determined form surface phenology data on birch (Betula sp.). Then, we produced NDVI based maps of SOS for each of the 21 years. Finally, the time differences between the SOS and the last day of snow cover, as well as dates of passing different temperatures, were analyzed for 21 meteorological stations. The analyses showed that 1985 was the most extreme year in terms of late SOS. In terms of early SOS, the year 1990 was by far the most extreme. Locally, the SOS has an average range of 1 month between the earliest and latest recorded SOS, with a trend towards a bigger range in the oceanic parts. The results indicate that a 1°C increase in spring temperatures in general corresponds to an advancement of 5–6 days in SOS. However, there is a clear trend according to the degree of oceanity, with a 1°C increase in the most oceanic parts corresponding roughly to 7–9 days earlier SOS, compared to less than 5 days earlier in the continental parts.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Dr. Tucker at NASA–Goddard Space Flight Center for providing us with the GIMMS dataset, and we are grateful to the meteorological institutes in the Nordic countries and to the Polar Alpine Botanical Garden Institute at Kirovsk in Russia for providing us with climate data. The project is financed by the project ‘Phenology as an indicator of climate change effects’ (PhenoClim), sponsored by the Norwegian Research Council, contract 155904/720.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. NORUT Information Technology Ltd., P.O. Box 6434, 9294, Tromsø, Norway

    Stein Rune Karlsen, Pieter S. A. Beck & Kjell Arild Høgda

  2. Faculty of Mathematical Sciences, University of Tromsø, 9037, Tromsø, Norway

    Inger Solheim

  3. Department of Biology, University of Tromsø, 9037, Tromsø, Norway

    Pieter S. A. Beck

  4. Department of Biology, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1045, Blindern, 0316, Oslo, Norway

    Frans Emil Wielgolaski

  5. Department of Arctic Ecology, The Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, The Polar Environmental Centre, 9296, Tromsø, Norway

    Hans Tømmervik

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  1. Stein Rune Karlsen
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  3. Pieter S. A. Beck
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Correspondence to Stein Rune Karlsen.

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Karlsen, S.R., Solheim, I., Beck, P.S.A. et al. Variability of the start of the growing season in Fennoscandia, 1982–2002. Int J Biometeorol 51, 513–524 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-007-0091-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-007-0091-x

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