Effect Climate Change has on Growing Season Length and Surface Waters in the Ohio Region

Keywords: Climate Change, Growing Season Length, Hydrologic Cycle, Temperature
Abstract Type: Paper Abstract

Abstract

This study discovered relationships between growing season length, climatologic, and hydrologic variables, highlighting which variables had the most significant impact on growing season length for the Great Lakes and Ohio Hydrologic Regions of Ohio, Western Pennsylvania, Northeastern Indiana, and Southeastern Michigan of the United States. Climatologic variables were provided by PRISM gridded datasets, annual historical hydrologic streamflow data from 18 delineated watersheds were provided from the USGS focusing, and growing season length variables were derived from remotely sensed GIMMS NDVI3g data. It was discovered using TIMESAT software that the growing season length for the study area increased by approximately 11 days, with a maximum of 38 days. It was also discovered that a large section of the study area decreased in overall growing season length with areas seeing growing season length shortened by a maximum of ~42 days. Relationships between variables were modeled using geographic weighted regression analysis in ArcGIS Pro.