This monitoring period covers the dormant winter season and the spring green-up of winter cereals in Central Europe and western Russia. The sowing of summer crops was underway, starting in the west and south of the MPZ. In general, rainfall was higher than average (+11%), with lower TEMP (-0.3ºC) and RADPAR (-7%).

As shown on the spatial distribution map of rainfall departure, the precipitation in most areas of the MPZ fluctuated around the mean during the monitoring period. The spatial and temporal distribution characteristics were as follows: (1) From January to mid-February and from late March to April in 2021, the precipitation in southeastern Russia and some parts of Ukraine (51.2% of the MPZ) was above average. (2) From January to early March, the precipitation in most of the western MPZ (70.7% of the MPZ) continued to decline. (3) Between late February and early March, the precipitation was below average in all regions except for parts of western Russia (29.3% of the MPZ).

The temperature departure distribution map shows that for most of the MPZ the temperature fluctuated strongly from January to April. On average, temperatures in the MPZ were lower than the 15YA (-0.3℃). From January to February 2021, the west of Russia, the south of Belarus, Ukraine and most of Moldova (79.3% of the MPZ) had a large temperature variation, with a biggest negative departures of nearly 8.0℃. The temperatures began to rise in March. Parts of western Russia and eastern Ukraine (51.8 % of the MPZ) were warmer than average, while most of southern Belarus, Poland, Moldova, Romania and Ukraine (48.2% of the MPZ) remained below average.

The potential biomass in the MPZ was 7% lower than the 15YA. The areas with a 10% or more negative departure were mainly found in the west of MPZ. A higher-than 0.8 VCIx value was observed in the south-west of Ukraine, Moldova and the north-east of Romania, while areas with a VCIx value below 0.5 included most of the western part of Russia and the north-west of Ukraine, mainly due to uncultivated land. As a whole, CALF was 18% lower than the average level in the past five years, which was mainly due to the abnormal phenology. 

In summary, CropWatch agroclimatic and agronomic indicators for the monitoring period demonstrated that, though there was abundant precipitation in the MPZ, the decreased temperatures and RADPAR cumulatively affected the crops in the growth period, resulting in a lower BIOMSS . In conclusion, the growth condition of crops of the MPZ was unfavorable during this period,and the crop yields are likely to be lower than average.

Figure 2.6 Central Europe-Western Russia MPZ: Agroclimatic and agronomic indicators, January - April 2021

a Spatial distribution of rainfall profiles                                       b. Profiles of rainfall departure from average (mm)

c Spatial distribution of temperature profiles                            d. Profiles of temperature departure from average (mm)

 e. Maximum VCI                                                                                  f. Cropped and uncropped arable land

g. .Biomass accumulation potential departure                                        h.VHI Minimum