Group Layer Forestry and Forestry — Growing Time in the Forest

The group layer “Vegetation time in the forest” comprises three maps: the actual vegetation period (number of days 10 °C), the total precipitation in the forest vegetation period (May to October) and the climatic water balance in the forest vegetation period (May to October) in the period 1981-2010. The data base is provided by the German Weather Service. The HYRAS dataset of the DWD provides the basis for the evaluation of the actual vegetation time length, which contains daily value data in a grid of 5 km × 5 km. The basis for determining the forest-relevant actual vegetation time is the mean daily values of the air temperature measured at the stations of the German Weather Service in North Rhine-Westphalia. The basis for the rainfall sum as well as the climatic water balance during the forest vegetation period (May to October) also provide measurements by the German Weather Service, which were interpolated from a grid of 1 km × 1 km taking into account the topography of the terrain.