Sub-seasonal irrigation forecasts Renana

The sub-seasonal (4 weeks) forecasts of irrigation needs for crops are the result of the combination of different data sources such as information on agricultural land use from satellite data, Emilia-Romagna Region soil map, observed weather data and HIGHLANDER sub-seasonal forecast, by means of a soil water balance model. Provided data are irrigation and precipitation forecasts expressed as a statistical distribution, of which 5th, 25th, 50th, 75th and 95th percentiles of this distribution are available.

These forecasts are the outcomes of a climate service addressed to irrigation water management in agriculture developed by ARPAE, including seasonal probabilistic forecasts and deterministic weekly forecasts of irrigation, as described in Villani et al., 2021.

The sub-seasonal irrigation forecasts cover the Renana Land reclamation and Irrigation Board (consorzio di bonifica). The Renana is a reclamation and irrigation basin located Emilia-Romagna Region, and distributed mostly in the Bologna province. It covers almost to 341,953 hectares (3,419 km2), of which 42% in the plains and 58% in the mountains. The watershed of Reno River identifies the basin borders.

The delivery of the forecast is weekly (usually on Tuesday) according to the emission of sub-seasonal forecasts produced by ECMWF.

Products

Irrigation forecast (mm)

Precipitation forecast (mm)