A systematic review of climate indices used to evaluate precipitation and rainfall changes and their effects on grape production

Climate indices are defined as a calculation (may be as simple as number of days, or summation of precipitation for example) over a period of time that can be used to describe the state and changes in a variable (in this case precipitation) under investigation. Indices are particularly relevant for characterizing the potential effects of climate change on agricultural and horticultural production as they are used to describe climate trends over time, and for future climate change simulations to understand potential impacts. Here, we used systematic literature review methods to answer the following question: “Are there examples of bioclimatic or ecoclimatic indices used to evaluate precipitation and rainfall changes, or the effects of these annually on grape production?” The aim was to review and assess different climate indices that include the meteorological component of water availability, precipitation. The context in which each index was applied was evaluated for the index’s usefulness to summarize precipitation based trends, and to inform modelling of precipitation changes under different scenarios of future climate change.