WINETECH Technical Yearbook 2019

TARA SOUTHEY, GARTH STEPHENSON & ADRIAAN VAN NIEKERK: Centre for Geographical Analysis, Department of Geography & Environmental Studies, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch KEYWORDS: Climate, terrain, GIS, innovation. JUNE 2019 TERRACLIM – ONLINE TERRAIN AND CLIMATE SPATIAL DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS

Assess your environment and tell your story using maps in TerraClim. The TerraClim platform is an integrated resource database with a user-friendly interface, where users can obtain pertinent information about climate, terrain and soils to aid long- and short-term agricultural decision-making. IS IT ALL DOOM AND GLOOM? Average global temperatures across land and ocean surfaces continue to increase at an alarming rate, with 18 of the 19 warmest years in the 138-year record (1880-2018) having occurred since 2001. The warmest year on record is 2016, followed by 2017, 2015 and 2018, respectively. Annual warming seems to be driven by the warming in the first and last four months of a year.

The January temperatures of the last four years ranked among the five highest on record. Africa had its fourth highest continental temperatures on record in 2018, with many coastal countries experiencing droughts in the recent years. From a regional perspective, the Western Cape has been experiencing a warming trend of between 1-2°C (for the period 1984-2015). These increases are driven by maximum temperature increases and temperatures are projected to increase further, by as much as 1.5°C along the coast and 3°C inland by 2050 . Conditions are exacerbated by a decreasing trend in annual rainfall over the last decade, with the past few seasons experiencing the most severe drought in 100 years. Climatic indices used to summate