Air Temperature Digital Maps for Representative Concentration Pathways and Possible Impacts on Postavaru Mountains Forests

Abstract

The paper presents an exercise of downscaling climate change scenarios, namely the temperature projections for the representative concentration pathways (RCP) included in the Fifth IPCC Assessment Report (AR5), for a mountain study area (Postavaru Mountains) located south of Brasov City, Romania, and analysing the changes of the optimum bioclimatic envelope land allocation. The digital temperature maps, for the present and future climate conditions, were created by taking into account both the lapse rate and a correction factor (quantifying the raster cells' differences in potential incoming solar radiation). The optimum `envelopes` extent for the main tree species in the study area were analysed for the current situation and for predicted RCP changes in two future periods.