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Spatiotemporal distribution of reference evapotranspiration in the Republic of Moldova

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Abstract

The main objectives of this study are to investigate the spatial distribution and changes in reference evapotranspiration (ET 0) in the Republic of Moldova. Monthly data of maximum and minimum air temperature, sunshine duration, relative humidity, and wind speed recorded at 14 weather stations over a period of 52 years (1961–2012) were used. ET 0 was computed based on the FAO Penman-Monteith formula. Annual and growing seasons of winter wheat and maize time series were analyzed for the 1981–2012 period as well as for the 1961–1980. The trends and their statistical significance in ET 0 series were detected using Mann-Kendall test and T test, while the magnitude of the trends was estimated using Sen’s slope and linear regression. For the 1981–2012 period, the results indicated that annual ET 0 had a positive trend in more than 90 % of the time series according to both parametric and nonparametric methods. The magnitude of positive trends in annual ET 0 series ranged between 13.80 and 72.07 mm/decade. In the growing seasons of winter wheat and maize, the results are similar to those found in the annual series. Significant decreasing trends dominated over the 1961–1980 period.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the State Hydrometeorological Service of the Republic of Moldova for providing the meteorological data. The author, Bistricean, Petrut-Ionel, would like to specify that this paper has been financially supported within the project entitled “SOCERT. Knowledge society, dynamism through research,” contract number POSDRU/159/1.5/S/132406. This project is co-financed by European Social Fund through Sectoral Operational Programme for Human Resources Development 2007–2013. Investing in people!

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Climate Research Group, Physical and Technical Geography Department, Faculty of Geography, Babeş-Bolyai University, 5-7, Clinicilor Street, 400006, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

    Adrian Piticar

  2. Geography Department, Faculty of History and Geography, Ştefan cel Mare University, 13, University Street, 720229, Suceava, Romania

    Dumitru Mihăilă, Liliana Gina Lazurca, Petruţ-Ionel Bistricean & Andrei-Emil Briciu

  3. General Geography Department, Faculty of Geography, Tiraspol State University, 5, Iablocikin Street, MD-2069, Chişinău, Republic of Moldova

    Anatolie Puţuntică

  4. State Hydrometeorological Service, 134, Grenoble Street, MD-2072, Chişinău, Republic of Moldova

    Anatolie Puţuntică

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  1. Adrian Piticar
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  2. Dumitru Mihăilă
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  3. Liliana Gina Lazurca
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  4. Petruţ-Ionel Bistricean
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  5. Anatolie Puţuntică
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  6. Andrei-Emil Briciu
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Correspondence to Adrian Piticar.

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Piticar, A., Mihăilă, D., Lazurca, L.G. et al. Spatiotemporal distribution of reference evapotranspiration in the Republic of Moldova. Theor Appl Climatol 124, 1133–1144 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-015-1490-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-015-1490-2

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