An Overview of Environmental Hazards Related to Crops in Greece By: Nicolas R. Dalezios U NIVERSITY O F T HESSALY L ABORATORY O F A GROMETEOROLOGY

F R O S T I N G R E E C E EVENTS, CLIMATOLOGY, DAMAGES, FORECASTING-RISK ASSESSMENT An Overview of Environmental Hazards Related to Crops in Greece Prepared for COST734

FROST EVENTS Advection frosts Radiation frosts A combination of both THE MOST DAMAGING FROSTS ARE THE ADVECTIVE FOLLOWED BY RADIATION FROSTS An Overview of Environmental Hazards Related to Crops in Greece Prepared for COST734

CLIMATOLOGY OF FROST Trewatha’s world map (1954) shows the average length of frost-free period. Greece is divided in three zones Zone 2Occasional winter frosts. (Islands, Southern Greece) Zone 3Frost-free season > 240 days. (Central & parts of Northern Greece) Zone 4180 days < Frost-free season < 240 days (Northern Greece) An Overview of Environmental Hazards Related to Crops in Greece Prepared for COST734

AGRICULTURAL DAMAGES (in thousands euros) WHEATHER PHENOMENON TOTAL ( ) WIND STORM 47,100 RAINFALL177,850 HEAT WAVE 3,239 FROST539,400 FLOOD 27,452 HAIL179,005 SNOW 3,883 TOTAL977,929 FROST CONTRIBUTION (%)55 An Overview of Environmental Hazards Related to Crops in Greece Prepared for COST734

CROP DAMAGES & CONTRIBUTION TO TOTAL FROST INJURIES CROP CATEGORY DESCRIPTIONCONTRIBUTION (%) CITRUSORANGES, GRAPE FRUITS STONE FRUITSPEACHES20-30 VEGETABLES15-20 INDUSTRIAL PLANTSCOTTON15-20 An Overview of Environmental Hazards Related to Crops in Greece Prepared for COST734

FROST PROTECTION MAINLY PASSIVE METHODS ARE USED (cost-effective and more beneficial than active protection methods) Wind machines protect < 10% of the citrus crop in Greece Sprinklers (over-plant and under-plant) protect < 20% of the citrus crop An Overview of Environmental Hazards Related to Crops in Greece Prepared for COST734

FROST FORECASTING – RISK ASSESSMENT CASE STUDY: Frost risk mapping for the agricultural region of Central Greece An Overview of Environmental Hazards Related to Crops in Greece Prepared for COST734

H A I L An Overview of Environmental Hazards Related to Crops in Greece Prepared for COST734

CLIMATOLOGY OF HAIL IN GREECE Number of observed hail days for different areas in Greece. An Overview of Environmental Hazards Related to Crops in Greece Prepared for COST734

HAIL DAMAGES Total annual compensations given to farmers from hail losses (prices are in million €) An Overview of Environmental Hazards Related to Crops in Greece Prepared for COST734

Hail loss percent from total compensations given to farmers An Overview of Environmental Hazards Related to Crops in Greece Prepared for COST734

Monthly distribution hail losses Percent of compensations Example: The year An Overview of Environmental Hazards Related to Crops in Greece Prepared for COST734

0 < 0.4 M € < 1 M € < 2 M € < 5 M € < 10 M € > 10 M € Peaches Corn Vineyards Cotton Vineyards Tomatoes Cherries Compensations given per prefecture for the year 2004 and main agricultural products hit by hail An Overview of Environmental Hazards Related to Crops in Greece Prepared for COST734

HAIL PROTECTION THE NATIONAL HAIL SUPRESSION PROGRAMME (NHSP) The three protected agricultural areas of NHSP. AreaTotal Compensations (in M €) Difference % Average Period Average Period A1, Pella - Hmathia A2, Serres A3, Karditsa TOTAL916,4309,2-66 Differences in compensations given before and during the NHSP An Overview of Environmental Hazards Related to Crops in Greece Prepared for COST734

DROUGHT Regional phenomena, referred to as "non events", since their basic cause is the lack of precipitation events in a region over a period of time. Four drought categories: meteorological or climatological, hydrological, agricultural, and socioeconomic (American Meteorological Society, 1997). Drought responsive parameters: rainfall, soil moisture, potential evapotranspiration, vegetation condition, ground- water and surface-water levels. An Overview of Environmental Hazards Related to Crops in Greece Prepared for COST734

Drought indices Describe the magnitude, duration, severity, and spatial extent of drought. Based on meteorological and hydrological variables, such as precipitation, streamflows, soil moisture, reservoir storage, and groundwater levels. Conventional drought indices based on ground measurements (e.g. PDSI, SPI, RDI, Rainfall Deciles, CMI, SWSI). Satellite drought indices based on remote sensed data (e.g. NDVI, VCI, TCI, VHI). An Overview of Environmental Hazards Related to Crops in Greece Prepared for COST734

District climatic characteristics of Greece 1.Western coast and the islands of the Ionian Sea: significant precipitation, small annual temperature range. 2.West coast of southern continental Greece and the islands of the Aegean Sea: low winter temperatures, high summer temperatures and low precipitation. 3.Northern and Central continent: long duration storms, short drought periods, low negative temperatures during winter and large annual temperature range. 4.Crete and southern Greece: with small annual precipitation and droughts long duration. 5.Pindous Mountain range: high annual precipitation and strong gradients of precipitation and temperature with elevation. An Overview of Environmental Hazards Related to Crops in Greece Prepared for COST734

Drought in Greece Drought severity increased from the northern to the southern and from the western to the eastern regions (Dalezios et al., 2000;Loukas et al., 2002). Isoseverity map of droughts in Greece, from Z-index values, for three-month duration and five-year return period. An Overview of Environmental Hazards Related to Crops in Greece Prepared for COST734

Case Study Use of RDI and SPI in Naxos island, Mornos and Nestos basin (Tsakiris and Vangelis, 2005; Tsakiris et al., 2006). Normalised yearly RDI for Naxos meteorological station for the period 1955/56 – 1991/92. An Overview of Environmental Hazards Related to Crops in Greece Prepared for COST734

Mornos case study: maximum water deficit and the most severe drought at Pentagi station during the years The maximum annual drought intensity year Nestos watershed: maximum water deficit at Hryssoupoli station during the years Severe drought, in (Achladia station) and (Ptelea station). maximum drought intensity for the year (Potami station). An Overview of Environmental Hazards Related to Crops in Greece Prepared for COST734

Wheat and Drought Drought: major environmental factor limiting for wheat growth during the early part of its life cycle. Plant Protection from drought Rational regime of irrigation. Alternative plant production. Selection of tolerant plant genotypes. Pumping of groundwater. Construction of off-stream reservoirs to store surface water sinks for collection of precipitation water. Uses of desalinisation plants. An Overview of Environmental Hazards Related to Crops in Greece Prepared for COST734

E X C E S S R A I N The duration and frequency of extreme rainfall rates are important climatological features to be considered in meteorology, agriculture, hydrology and civil engineering. Heavy precipitation events in the world wide have caused great damage to crop production. A warmer climate will be one in which the hydrological cycle will in general be more intense, leading to more heavy rain events (IPCC, 1996). Enhanced hydrologic cycle is responsible for the increasing flood damage. An Overview of Environmental Hazards Related to Crops in Greece Prepared for COST734

Precipitation-related measures used for study of floods Total precipitation Number of wet days per station Number of extreme precipitation days (>2 inches) per station Number of 2-day heavy precipitation events per station Number of 3-day heavy precipitation events per station Number of 5-day heavy precipitation events per station Number of 7-day heavy precipitation events per station Percentage of an area with much above-normal cold season (October– April) precipitation Percentage of an area with the number of wet days much above normal Percentage of an area with much above-normal proportion of total annual precipitation from 1-day extreme events. An Overview of Environmental Hazards Related to Crops in Greece Prepared for COST734

Damages of Extreme Precipitation Anoxic conditions by excessively wet soils (Kozdrόj and van Elsas, 2000). Increased risk of plant disease and insect infestation (Ashraf and Habib-ur-Rehman, 1999). Large losses of crop yield and production. Damages after extreme precipitation An Overview of Environmental Hazards Related to Crops in Greece Prepared for COST734

Excess Rain damages in Greece RainfallExtreme temperature Hail Floods Windstorms Frost Total map damages in Greece for all agriculture disaster categories in thousands € from 1986 to An Overview of Environmental Hazards Related to Crops in Greece Prepared for COST734

Excess rain and Cotton  Large damages are caused mainly in cotton and especially in end-grow season at September.  Effects in economy, quality and productivity of cotton in Greece and especially in Thessaly plain where cotton production is significant. An Overview of Environmental Hazards Related to Crops in Greece Prepared for COST734

F O R E S T F I R E S An Overview of Environmental Hazards Related to Crops in Greece Prepared for COST734

Types of Forest Fires Ground fires. Surface fires. Crown fires. Meteorological parameters such as rainfall, high temperature, low relative humidity and wind velocity have serious effect in the initiation and spread of forest fires. Other factors affecting: the variety and amount of fuel (vegetation and dead organic material), the fuel moisture and the topography (altitude, slope). An Overview of Environmental Hazards Related to Crops in Greece Prepared for COST734

Causes of Forest Fires In Greece, the causes of wildfires are classified into three categories: Wildfires caused by natural causes. Wildfires caused by human activities. Wildfires caused by dubious-unknown reasons. Causes of forest fires in Greece for the period (Dalezios, 2006). CATEGORY OF CAUSEContribution in Percent (%) 1. Negligence 1.1 Cigarettes stubs or matches14,0 1.2 Burning of stubble21,1 1.3 Military shooting exercises0,6 1.4 Trains and electrical lines0,4 1.5 Sparks from machinery2,7 1.6 Overheating2,5 1.7 Bees smoking0,6 1.8 Campers1,5 1.9 Burn of wastes and other causes 5 1. Sum of causes due to negligence 48,4 2. Arsons27,2 3. Natural causes2,1 4. Dubious or unknown causes22,5 An Overview of Environmental Hazards Related to Crops in Greece Prepared for COST734

Burned Area in Greece An Overview of Environmental Hazards Related to Crops in Greece Prepared for COST734

Wildfire Statistics for Greece Basic statistics of forest fires in Greece for the period (Dalezios, 2006) Year MEAN NUMBER OF FIRES PER YEAR991 MAXIMUM NUMBER OF FIRES2, MINIMUM NUMBER OF FIRES MEAN BURNED AREA (ha)28,193 MAXIMUM BURNED AREA (ha)110, MINIMUM BURNED AREA (ha)2, Need for protection (prevention and suppression), monitoring, forecasting and risk assessment. An Overview of Environmental Hazards Related to Crops in Greece Prepared for COST734

K-study in Penteli, Greece (Domenikiotis et al. (2002). Technique based on satellite derived NDVI. NOAA/AVHRR and Landsat TM data. Monitoring and Mapping (a) (b) Images formed by NOAA/AVHRR data before (a) and after (b) the forest fire in Penteli, Greece. Bright areas in the first image indicate the presence of vegetation and the gray areas correspond to suburbs of Athens and the sea An Overview of Environmental Hazards Related to Crops in Greece Prepared for COST734

Burned areas: dark red, Vegetation areas: green (Landsat TM images). Concluding, NOAA/AVHRR data can be used for operational monitoring and assessment of damaged area in near real-time with high degree of accuracy. Landsat TM is much more accurate (Domenikiotis et al. (2002). Monitoring and Mapping (a) (b) Landsat TM color composites images (7,4,1) before (a) and after (b) the forest fire in Penteli, Greece. This band compilation highlights the burned area. An Overview of Environmental Hazards Related to Crops in Greece Prepared for COST734

Forecasting and Risk Assessment K-study in Pelio, Greece (Spanos et al. 2002). Use of three meteorological parameters and Angström’s index for risk assessment. NDVI for detection of the burned areas. Meteorological parameters and Angström’s index during the initiation of fire. Station/ParameterVolosVelestinoZagora Air Temperature (  C) Relative Humidity (%) Wind speed (ms -1 ) Angström’s index The study highlighted the importance of local meteorological conditions in the fire risk assessment. An Overview of Environmental Hazards Related to Crops in Greece Prepared for COST734

GRAPES PEST AND DISEASES 1.Hadromycosis-Bertisillioseis / Verticillium dahliae, Verticillium albo-atrum 2.Bacillar necrosis / Xylophilus ampelinus 3.Botrytis (ash decay) vine / Botryotinia fuckeliana 4.Esca or Polisporiash / Phellinus igniarius, Stereum hirsutum (esca, black measles, apoplexy) 5.Necrosis of arms / Eutypa lata 6.Mildew of vine (downy mildew) / Plasmopara viticola 7.Decays of fruits from penikilla / Prnicillium digitatum, Penicillium italicum, Penicillium expansum 8.Fomopsi or exkoriosi of vine / Phomopsis viticola 9.Oidio of vine / Uncinula necator An Overview of Environmental Hazards Related to Crops in Greece Prepared for COST734

Geographical distribution of indemnification for damages of mildew in Greece (source ELGA). An Overview of Environmental Hazards Related to Crops in Greece Prepared for COST734

Protection measurements The care of soil and the fertilization Corridors and areas released exempted of pests Cares of leafage Direct means of plant health protection (combating) Estimate of danger and observation of enemy or pathogenic An Overview of Environmental Hazards Related to Crops in Greece Prepared for COST734

The use of models for protection of diseases PERO Model simulates the infection cycle development according to agrometeorological conditions, allowing the best timing for fungicide treatment. PLASMO model Simulates the inflection cycle development and diseased leaf area An Overview of Environmental Hazards Related to Crops in Greece Prepared for COST734

PERO Model Application Results for the area of N. Aghialos in Greece for the year 2000 An Overview of Environmental Hazards Related to Crops in Greece Prepared for COST734