Copernicus Service catalogue

This application explores how climate change might affect the production of cotton in cotton-producing regions around the world. Cotton is the most widely used natural fibre on the planet, with over 22 million tons of raw material produced annually. As an arable crop, cotton grows in specific environments with temperature requirements and sufficient water supply needs to achieve high-quality production.

Based on the agroclimatic indicators from 1951 to 2099 derived from climate projections dataset, this application focuses on the water and temperature requirements that cotton needs to grow to maturity. High quality cotton production requires a very specific environment and this application explores changes in these growing conditions based on the ERA-interim reanalysis and bias-corrected climate datasets. Cotton supply chain stakeholders can use these indicators to compare past and future time periods to improved their understanding of the potential effects of climate changes.

The application interface allows users to select a country and explore agroclimatic indicators relating to cotton for cotton-growing regions within that country. Available countries are: India, China, USA, Brazil, Pakistan, Australia, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Mexico, Argentina, Benin and Greece.

User-selectable parameters

• Country of interest: the country for which to explore cotton-growing regions.
• Climate model origin: the origin of the climate model from which agroclimatic indicators are derived.
• RCP scenario: the climate change scenario for future climate projections.
• Analysis: the variable to analyse which relates to the production and cultivation of cotton.