Publication Abstracts

Cook and Wolkovich 2016

Cook, B.I., and E.M. Wolkovich, 2016: Climate change decouples drought from early winegrape harvests in France. Nat. Clim. Change, 6, no. 7, 715-719, doi:10.1038/nclimate2960.

Across the world, winegrape phenology has advanced in recent decades, in step with climate change induced trends in temperature and drought, the main drivers of fruit maturation. Fully understanding how climate change contributes to changes in harvest dates, however, requires analyzing winegrape phenology and its relationship to climate over a longer term context, including data predating anthropogenic interference in the climate system. Here, we investigate the climatic controls of winegrape harvest dates from 1600-2007 in France and Switzerland using historical harvest and climate data. Early harvests occur with warmer temperatures (6 days/°C) and are delayed by wet conditions (+0.07 days/mm; +1.68 days PDSI-1) during spring and summer. In recent decades (1981-2007), however, the relationship between harvest timing and drought has broken down. Historically, high summer temperatures in Western Europe, which would hasten fruit maturation, required drought conditions to generate extreme heat. The relationship between drought and temperature in this region, however, has weakened in recent decades and enhanced warming from anthropogenic greenhouse gases can generate the high temperatures needed for early harvests without drought. Our results suggest that climate change has fundamentally altered the climatic drivers of early winegrape harvests in France, with possible ramifications for viticulture management and wine quality.

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BibTeX Citation

@article{co09800l,
  author={Cook, B. I. and Wolkovich, E. M.},
  title={Climate change decouples drought from early winegrape harvests in France},
  year={2016},
  journal={Nature Climate Change},
  volume={6},
  number={7},
  pages={715--719},
  doi={10.1038/nclimate2960},
}

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RIS Citation

TY  - JOUR
ID  - co09800l
AU  - Cook, B. I.
AU  - Wolkovich, E. M.
PY  - 2016
TI  - Climate change decouples drought from early winegrape harvests in France
JA  - Nat. Clim. Change
JO  - Nature Climate Change
VL  - 6
IS  - 7
SP  - 715
EP  - 719
DO  - 10.1038/nclimate2960
ER  -

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