Designs of (changes in) protection measures against extreme climate in agroforestry

Abstract

We want to discuss here the protection of non-forest trees against hail and frost. Parts of these stories can be much more generally applied, because protection principles in agroforestry are quite often not system specific. Hail is a severe disaster with strong effects on quantity and quality of tree and crop production. Hail storms are generated by cumulonimbus clouds and give hail grains ranging from a coffee grain to an orange fruit. When actually such clouds are approaching, then it is useful to find out whether they are indeed likely to produce hail. Radar is useful to sense hail generating power of clouds, and radar performance has increased significantly lately but is not an easy matter (e.g.Wieringa and Holleman 2006). © 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.