Can temperatures from an online weather forecast service be suitable for modelling growth stages using a CERES-Wheat type phenology model?. (1st June 2017) - Launspach, M.
Abstract : Weather and climate have a fundamental impact on plant development. Monitoring key observables, e.g. temperature and precipitation, is paramount for the interpretation of agricultural experiments and simulation of plant development. Whereas the presence of appropriate sensors in a research environment can be expected, the situation can be different in commercial agricultural settings. Local air temperature from online weather forecasts is investigated as a substitute for local weather station data. Hourly air temperature forecast and station data for several locations in Scotland and North East England are aggregated into daily air temperature values spanning a period of several months. Dates for key growth stages using temperatures from weather stations and weather forecast data are compared. For the examples discussed here the date differences in modelled key growth stages did not exceed 3 days indicating that temperature forecast data is suitable for farm-specific applications.