Lo. Mearns et al., THE EFFECT OF CHANGES IN DAILY AND INTERANNUAL CLIMATIC VARIABILITY ON CERES-WHEAT - A SENSITIVITY STUDY, Climatic change, 32(3), 1996, pp. 257-292
We investigate the effect of changes in daily and interannual variabil
ity of temperature and precipitation on yields simulated by the CERES-
Wheat model at two locations in the central Great Plains. Changes in v
ariability were effected by adjusting parameters of the Richardson dai
ly weather generator. Two types of changes in precipitation were creat
ed: one with both intensity and frequency changed; and another with ch
ange only in persistence. In both types mean total monthly precipitati
on is held constant. Changes in daily (and interannual) variability of
temperature result in substantial changes in the mean and variability
of simulated wheat yields, With a doubling of temperature variability
, large reductions in mean yield and increases in variability of yield
result primarily from crop failures due to winter kill at both locati
ons. Reduced temperature variability has little effect. Changes in dai
ly precipitation variability also resulted in substantial changes in m
ean and variability of yield. Interesting interactions of the precipit
ation variability changes with the contrasting base climates are found
at the two locations. At one site where soil moisture is not limiting
, mean yield decreased and variability of yield increased with increas
ing precipitation variability, whereas mean yields increased at the ot
her location, where soil moisture is limiting. Yield changes were simi
lar for the two different types of precipitation variability change in
vestigated. Compared to an earlier study for the same locations wherei
n variability changes were effected by altering observed time series,
and the focus was on interannual variability, the present results for
yield changes are much more substantial. This study demonstrates the i
mportance of taking into account change in daily (and interannual) var
iability of climate when analyzing the effect of climate change on cro
p yields.