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Vegetation productivity loss under drought impact by land cover and countries (2000-2016, EEA-39)

Dashboard (Tableau)
Prod-ID: DAS-222-en
Published 20 May 2020
1 min read
Yearly vegetation productivity during 2000-2016 are analyzed in areas under drought pressure, measured as precipitation shortages and low soil moisture content. Vegetation productivity values are disaggregated and detailed by year and by detailed land cover categories. Strong negative values indicate strong drought intensity, with vegetation productivity values lower than the long term average normal condition. Scroll down to the More information section for further details.

More information

Access the soil moisture dataset here:

https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/data/soil-moisture-deficit-during-the 

Access the vegetation productivity dataset here:

https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/data/annual-above-ground-vegetation-productivity 

Standardized anomalies of yearly vegetation productivity during 2000-2016 are analyzed in areas with statistically significant drought pressure measured as precipitation shortages and low soil moisture content.

Anomalies are expressed in standard deviations compared to the long term average vegetation productivity conditions for each 500m grid cell in the EEA39 region. Negative vegetation productivity anomalies indicate vegetation productivity conditions that are less than the long term normal condition.

The extent of the impacted area is calculated from the sum of those grid cells where the vegetation productivity anomaly was below -1 standard deviation in the given year.

In order to exclude low vegetation anomaly signals in the time series, only those grid cells were considered in this analysis where the Corine Land Cover (CLC) 2000-2018 series indicated no land use change between 2000-2018.

Related content

Based on data

Data Soil moisture deficit during the vegetation growing season, annual time-series, 2000-2019 The dataset consists of a collection of annual soil moisture (SM) anomalies during the vegetation growing season (GS) for the years 2000-2019 across EEA 38 area and the United Kingdom. The vegetation growing season is defined by EEA´s phenology data series "Vegetation growing season length 2000-2016" [https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/data/annual-above-ground-vegetation-season]. The anomalies are calculated based on the European Commission's Joint Research Centre European Drought Observatory (EDO) Soil Moisture Index (SMI) with respect to the 1995–2019 base period. The yearly start and end of GS periods are dynamic and calculated according to the EEA Phenology Indicators. A positive anomaly indicates that the observed SM was wetter than the long-term SM average for the base period, while a negative anomaly indicates that the observed SM was drier than the reference value. Because SM anomalies are measured in units of standard deviation from the long-term SMI average, they can be used to compare annual deficits/surplus of SM between geographic regions. EDO is one of the early warning and monitoring systems of the Copernicus Emergency Management Service. As the dataset builds on EDO's SMI, it therefore contains modified Copernicus Emergency Management Service information (2019).

Related indicator

Indicator Assessment Drought impact on ecosystems in Europe Monitoring  vegetation response to water deficit due to droughts is necessary to be able to introduce effective measures to increase the resilience of ecosystems in line with the EU’s nature restoration plan — a key element of the EU biodiversity strategy for 2030. Between 2000 and 2016, Europe was affected by severe droughts, causing average yearly vegetation productivity losses covering around 121 000 km 2 . This was particularly notable in 2003, when drought affected most parts of Europe, covering an estimated 330 000 km 2  of forests, non-irrigated arable land and pastures. Drought impact was also relatively severe in 2005 and 2012.
Indicator Assessment Vegetation productivity Vegetation productivity indicates the spatial distribution and change of the vegetation cover - a key characteristic of ecosystem condition.  Vegetation productivity in Europe on average has a regional pattern of increase and decline. Increase was observed most in South Eastern Europe, over croplands and wetlands in the Steppic region and grasslands and sparsely vegetated lands and in the Black Sea and Anatolian regions. Decline happened most over croplands and grasslands in the Atlantic region as well as over wetlands in the Alpine region. Climate has important influence on vegetation productivity in Europe. Strongest driver is precipitation, especially in the South Eastern regions. Decreasing number of frost days increased productivity in the Pannonian region but decreased productivity in the Atlantic region. Climatic variations are important drivers of vegetation productivity, but land use changes are even stronger. Productivity was most increased by agricultural land management and converting other lands to agriculture, whereas largest decrease was caused by sprawling urban areas.

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For references, please go to https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/data/data-viewers/vegetation-productivity-loss-under-drought or scan the QR code.

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