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Phenology of plant and animal species
The timing of seasonal events has changed across Europe. A general trend towards earlier spring phenological stages (spring advancement) has been shown in many plant and animal species, mainly due to...
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Forest fires
Fire risk depends on many factors, including climatic conditions, vegetation, forest management practices and other socio-economic factors. The burnt area in the Mediterranean region increased from...
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Forest composition and distribution
Range shifts in forest tree species due to climate change have been observed towards higher altitudes and latitudes. These changes considerably affect the forest structure and the functioning of...
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Vector-borne diseases
The transmission cycles of vector-borne diseases are sensitive to climatic factors, but disease risks are also affected by factors such as land use, vector control, human behaviour, population...
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Floods and health
River and coastal flooding have affected many millions of people in Europe since 2000. Flooding affects human health through drowning, heart attacks, injuries, infections, exposure to chemical hazards...
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Extreme temperatures and health
Heat waves and extreme cold spells are associated with decreases in general population well-being and with increases in mortality and morbidity, especially in vulnerable population groups. Temperature...
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Growing season for agricultural crops
The thermal growing season for agricultural crops in Europe has lengthened by more than 10 days since 1992. The delay in the end of the growing season has been more pronounced than the advance of the...
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Crop water demand
Climate change led to an increase in the crop water demand and thus the crop water deficit from 1995 to 2015 in large parts of southern and eastern Europe; a decrease has been estimated for parts of...
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Agrophenology
The flowering of several perennial and annual crops has advanced by about two days per decade during the last 50 years. Changes in crop phenology are affecting crop production and the relative...
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Water-limited crop yield
Yields of several rainfed crops are levelling off (e.g. wheat in some European countries) or decreasing (e.g. grapes in Spain), whereas yields of other crops (e.g. maize in northern Europe) are...
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Heating and cooling degree days
The number of population-weighted heating degree days (HDD) decreased by 8.2 % between the 1951–1980 and 1981–2014 periods; the decrease during the 1981–2014 period was on average 9.9 HDDs per year...
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Meteorological and hydrological droughts
Drought has been a recurrent feature of the European climate. From 2006–2010, on average 15 % of the EU territory and 17 % of the EU population have been affected by meteorological droughts each year....
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Global and European sea level
Global mean sea level has risen by 19.5 cm from 1901 to 2015, at an average rate of 1.7 mm/year, but with significant decadal variation. The rate of sea level rise since 1993, when satellite...
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Water- and food-borne diseases
It is not possible to assess whether past climate change has already affected water- and food-borne diseases in Europe, but the sensitivity of pathogens to climate factors suggest that climate change...
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Soil moisture
Harmonised in situ data on soil moisture are not available across the EU. Modelled soil moisture content has significantly decreased in the Mediterranean region and increased in parts of northern...
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Heavy precipitation
The intensity of heavy precipitation events in summer and winter have increased in northern and north-eastern Europe since the 1960s. Different indices show diverging trends for south-western and...
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Wind storms
Storm location, frequency and intensity have shown considerable decadal variability across Europe over the past century, such that no significant long-term trends are apparent. Recent studies on...
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Hail
Hail events are among the most costly weather-related extreme events in several European regions, causing substantial damage to crops, vehicles, buildings and other infrastructure. The number of hail...
View ArticleEconomic losses from climate-related extremes
The total reported economic losses caused by weather and climate-related extremes in the EEA member countries over the period 1980-2015 amount to around EUR 433 billion (in 2015 Euro values). The...
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Global and European temperature
According to three different observational records of global average annual near-surface (land and ocean) temperature, the last decade (2007–2016) was 0.87 to 0.92 °C warmer than the pre-industrial...
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