This analysis covers thelate stages of maize (harvest completed in November)and the early vegetative stages of wheat (planted in October). The CropWatchenvironmental indices show above average temperature (up 1.1℃)and slightly increased PAR accumulation, but a large decrease in rainfall (-20percent compared with the five-year average). These indices agree well with theexplicit positive thermal anomaly and scarce rainfall in Romania reported bythe JRC/MARS bulletin based on ground data. The NDVI profile (e) of Romaniashows a pattern similar to that of Poland, with national NDVI significantlyabove the five-year maximum from late December to early January. This might beattributed to the delay of the crop hardening process caused by the exceptionalwarm winter season over Europe. The NDVI clusters show the outer area (greenand blue area in figure b) along the country’s border possesses well aboveaverage NDVI values (c) throughout this period, which significantly correspondsto the dark green area with maximum VCI values above 0.9 in (a). The biomass inthe study period is estimated to drop by 15 percent compared with the recentfive years on the national scale. Figure (d) shows that growing conditions areusually better in the center than in peripheral areas of the

country.

Figure 3.24. Romania crop condition, Oct. 2013-Jan. 2014