Everingham, Y.L., Stone, R.C., and Muchow, R.C. (2001) An assessment of the 5 phase SOI climate forecasting system to improve harvest management decisions. In: Proceedings of the Australian Society of Sugar Cane Technologists (23) pp. 44-50. From: ASSCT 2001: 23rd Annual Conference of the Australian Society of Sugar Cane Technologists, 2001, Australia.

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Abstract

Extreme rainfall events during the harvest season can cause major disruptions to harvesting operations. Of critical importance is unseasonably high rainfall in the May-June and October-November periods which affect crush start time, timing of sugar supply, harvest season length and ratooning capability for the following season. If the likely climate conditions for these periods can be forecast with a reasonable degree of certainty, and with sufficient lead times, then local industry decision makers can better plan harvesting operations to coincide with the likely forecast, and thereby reduce the risk and uncertainty associated with start and finish times of the harvest season. The aim of this paper is to investigate the potential usefulness of the climate forecasting system that incorporates the 5 phases of the Southern Oscillation Index (SOl) in aiding decision making capability and risk management associated with harvesting operations. Interaction with the sugar industry indicated a clear need to identify critical 'wetday' occurrence. The likelihood of wetdays occurring during May-June and October-November were calculated using the '5 phase SOL system'. Results from this analysis indicate that this climate forecast system offers some benefits associated with forecasting 'wetdays' during October-November, whereas benefits associated with forecasting 'wetdays' during May-June are currently more limited. The usefulness of the climate forecast was found to vary with lead-time and location.

Item ID:	40128
Item Type:	Conference Item (Research - E1)
Keywords:	sugarcane, harvest management, SOI, climate forecasting, rainfall
Related URLs:	Publisher
Funders:	Sugar Research and Development Corporation (SRDC), Climate Variability and Agriculture R&D Program
Date Deposited:	25 Aug 2015 00:23
FoR Codes:	01 MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES > 0104 Statistics > 010401 Applied Statistics @ 100%
SEO Codes:	82 PLANT PRODUCTION AND PLANT PRIMARY PRODUCTS > 8203 Industrial Crops > 820304 Sugar @ 100%
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