Land cover and temperature implications for the seasonal evapotranspiration in europe

Abstract

Land cover and spatial variation of seasonal temperature may contribute to different evapotranspiration rates between the European regions. In order to assess the integral effect of land cover and climate on water resources, we implemented a procedure which allows defining favorability areas to high rate of evapotranspiration. Seasonal mean air temperature for the present (2011-2040) and future (2041-2070) combined with the seasonal crop coefficients of current future projections of land cover for the 2040s have been used to evaluate the various degrees of evapotranspiration at European scale. Extremely high and very high degree of evapotranspiration tendency were verified for Southern, Eastern, Western and Central of Europe during the mid-season period. The low and very low evapotranspiration favorability were found in the Scandinavian Peninsula and in the Alps, Dinarics, and Carpathian during the present period in all the seasons. In the cold season, the land cover favorability to evapotranspiration (LCFE) is low and very low in almost the whole Europe. These findings indicate that the southern and western regions of Europe are facing low water availability, decrease in surface water flow, and possible long periods of drought in the summers.