Data from: Two-thirds of global cropland area impacted by climate oscillations

The El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) peaked strongly during the boreal
winter 2015-2016, leading to food insecurity in many parts of Africa, Asia
and Latin America. Besides ENSO, the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) and the
North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) are known to impact crop yields
worldwide. Here, we assess for the first time in a unified framework the
relationship between ENSO, IOD and NAO and simulated crop productivity at
the sub-country scale. Our findings reveal that during 1961–2010, crop
productivity is significantly influenced by at least one large-scale
climate oscillation in two-thirds of global cropland area. Besides
observing new possible links – especially for NAO in Africa and the Middle
East, our analyses confirm several known relationships between crop
productivity and these oscillations. Our results improve the understanding
of climatological crop productivity drivers, which is essential for
enhancing food security in many of the most vulnerable places on the
planet.