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Spatio-temporal modelling of heat stress and climate change implications for the Murray dairy region, Australia

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Abstract

The Murray dairy region produces approximately 1.85 billion litres of milk each year, representing about 20 % of Australia’s total annual milk production. An ongoing production challenge in this region is the management of the impacts of heat stress during spring and summer. An increase in the frequency and severity of extreme temperature events due to climate change may result in additional heat stress and production losses. This paper assesses the changing nature of heat stress now, and into the future, using historical data and climate change projections for the region using the temperature humidity index (THI). Projected temperature and relative humidity changes from two global climate models (GCMs), CSIRO MK3.5 and CCR-MIROC-H, have been used to calculate THI values for 2025 and 2050, and summarized as mean occurrence of, and mean length of consecutive high heat stress periods. The future climate scenarios explored show that by 2025 an additional 12–15 days (compared to 1971 to 2000 baseline data) of moderate to severe heat stress are likely across much of the study region. By 2050, larger increases in severity and occurrence of heat stress are likely (i.e. an additional 31–42 moderate to severe heat stress days compared with baseline data). This increasing trend will have a negative impact on milk production among dairy cattle in the region. The results from this study provide useful insights on the trends in THI in the region. Dairy farmers and the dairy industry could use these results to devise and prioritise adaptation options to deal with projected increases in heat stress frequency and severity.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Peter Briggs and Edward King (CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research) for access to SILO climate data files. John McIvor, Craig Miller, Roger Lawes and Cathy Phelps are thankfully acknowledged for their review of the earlier version of this manuscript. We thankfully acknowledge the funding provided by CSIRO Climate Adaptation Flagship and Dairy Australia. Thanks to the farmers from across the Murray dairy region who provided valuable feedback. We thank anonymous reviewers whose comments and suggestions have helped to significantly improve an earlier version of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CSIRO Climate Adaptation Flagship/Ecosystem Sciences, CSIRO Adelaide Laboratories, Gate 4, Waite Rd, Urrbrae, SA 5064, Australia

    Uday Nidumolu & David Gobbett

  2. CSIRO Climate Adaptation Flagship/Sustainable Ecosystems, GPO Box 284, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia

    Steven Crimp, Alison Laing & Mark Howden

  3. Dairy Australia, Level 5, IBM Centre, 60 City Road, Southbank, Victoria, Australia

    Stephen Little

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  1. Uday Nidumolu
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Correspondence to Uday Nidumolu.

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Nidumolu, U., Crimp, S., Gobbett, D. et al. Spatio-temporal modelling of heat stress and climate change implications for the Murray dairy region, Australia. Int J Biometeorol 58, 1095–1108 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-013-0703-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-013-0703-6

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