The effect of soil moisture anomalies on maize yield in Germany

Peichl, Michael; Thober, Stephan; Meyer, Volker; Samaniego, Luis

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-18-889-2018

Articles | Volume 18, issue 3

https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-18-889-2018

© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Special issue:

Damage of natural hazards: assessment and mitigation

https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-18-889-2018

© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 18, issue 3

Research article

|

20 Mar 2018

Research article |

| 20 Mar 2018

The effect of soil moisture anomalies on maize yield in Germany

Michael Peichl, Stephan Thober, Volker Meyer, and Luis Samaniego

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Final revised paper (published on 20 Mar 2018)
Preprint (discussion started on 25 Apr 2017)

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment

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RC1: 'comment', Anonymous Referee #1, 07 Jun 2017
- AC1: 'Reply to reviewer 1', Michael Peichl, 18 Dec 2017
RC2: 'Comments to authors', Anonymous Referee #2, 06 Nov 2017
- AC2: 'Reply to reviewer 2', Michael Peichl, 18 Dec 2017

Peer-review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision

ED: Publish subject to minor revisions (review by editor) (20 Dec 2017) by Thomas Thaler

AR by Michael Peichl on behalf of the Authors (22 Dec 2017) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Publish as is (02 Jan 2018) by Thomas Thaler

AR by Michael Peichl on behalf of the Authors (11 Jan 2018)

Short summary

Crop yields are routinely derived from meteorological variables, especially temperature. However, the primary water source for plant growth (soil moisture) is neglected. In this study, the predictability of maize yield is investigated using soil moisture or meteorological variables in Germany. The effects of soil moisture dominate those of temperature and are time-dependent. For example, comparatively moist soil conditions in June reduce crop yields, while in August they increase yields.