The Analysis of the Long-Term Changes of the Growing Seasons in Kyiv, Ukraine Using Global Historical Climatology Network-Daily Database

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the long-term changes in the timing of the growing season (GS) parameters for the city of Kyiv for 1881– 2020 using daily mean temperatures for three thresholds (5, 10 and 15° C). Registered changes in the GS parameters tend to persist across all time periods except 1961– 1990 during which trends are usually insignificant or have opposite direction comparing to the other intervals. The GS tend to become longer, but the mechanism of this elongation varies among the seasons. For the long GS a shift towards earlier start is responsible for the increase in the length, while for the summer GS the elongation reveals itself through the delays in the end of the season. The most prominent changes describe the active GS which, according to the results of the analysis, tends to both an earlier start and a later end. Changes in the start of the GS are more rapid than changes in the end, for example, decline of 1 day per 1.7 years versus increase of 1 day per 1.9 years for the modern standard normal period.