Climă/Teme de date INSPIRE (în conformitate cu anexele la Directiva 2007/2/CE ) / RO-Data.xlsx

General_Information L1 UpdDate L2 2023-03-13 National_Circumstances L1 BiogeophysicalCharacteristics DemographicSituation EconomicInfrastructuralSituation AssessmentsIntroDocument MainActivitiesClimateMonitoring ApproachesMethodologiesTools AssessmentsObservationDocument L2 Romania is situated in the south-eastern part of Central Europe, covering a total area of 238,397 km2. The country is crossed from north to the southwest by the Carpathian Mountains (peak altitude of 2,544 m). The Danube, the second-longest river of Europe, flows from west towards east along 2,857 km, bordering the country in its southern part and flowing further into the Black Sea, forming the second-largest and best preserved delta of Europe (the Danube Delta – a biosphere reservation and a biodiversity World Heritage site). Romania’s relief major units are proportionally distributed, being estimated to: 35% mountains, 35% hills and plateaus and 30% plains. The climate of Romania is temperate-continental with influences of the Atlantic Ocean in the western and central parts of the country, the Mediterranean Sea in the South-West, the Scandinavian-Baltic region in the north-east and east, Black Sea in the east and transitional between the oceanic and continental in the south. Under the Köppen classification, the climate types found across the Romanian territory are: 1. Tundra climate (ET), characteristic to the alpine areas (above 2,000-2,200 m) of the Southern Carpathians; 2. Subarctic continental climate (Dfc), with a cold summer and no dry season; this climate type is specific to high elevation areas (1,700 to 2,000 m) of the Eastern, Southern and Western Carpathians; 3. Humid continental climate (Dfb), without a dry season and with a warm summer; this climate type is well represented in the Eastern Carpathians (especially in the areas below 1700-1800 m), in the eastern parts of the Transylvanian Depression, but is also specific to some low elevation areas of the Southern and Western (e.g. the Apuseni Mountains) Carpathians; 4. Temperate (oceanic) climate (Cfb), without a dry season and with a warm summer; this type of climate is representative for the western hilly regions of the country, as well as for the Transylvanian Depression, the Moldavian Plateau and the Subcarpathians; 5. Humid subtropical temperate climate (Cfa), similar to Cfb, but with a hot summer; this climate type is specific to the Romanian Plain, some parts of the Western Plain and to the Dobrogea Tableland; 6. Cold semi-arid climate (Bsk), with a hot and dry summer and a cold winter; it is specific to the Danube Delta, as well as to the Razim-Sinoe lagunar complex. Due to its geographical position within Europe, large parts of the Romanian territory belong to the vast Euro-Siberian subregion of the Palearctic realm, whereas other parts of the country (such as Dobrogea and the eastern part of the Romanian Plain) pertain to the south-western sector of the Pontic-Caspian steppe. Overall, the basic floristic stock of Romania consists of Eurasian, European and Central European elements, with added species belonging to 5 out of the 11 biogeographical regions of Europe respectively, continental (53%), alpine (23%), steppe (17%), Pannonian (6%), Pontic (1%). In Romania, the natural and semi-natural ecosystems represent about a half of the country's territory, whereas the other half comprises agriculture ecosystems, constructions and infrastructure. The major types of natural ecosystems found in Romania include: forest ecosystems, ecosystems of meadows, freshwater and brackish ecosystems, marine and coastal ecosystems and underground (cave) ecosystems. The climate of Romania is changing and becoming more extreme. Observational data over the 1901-2020 period (from 29 weather stations with long-term time series) provide evidence of an ongoing warming at both annual (with 1.3°C over the entire period) and seasonal (especially in summer, winter and spring) timescales. An increasing frequency and duration of hot extremes (such as tropical days and nights, heat waves) was also observed throughout the country. The warmest year in record was 2019 (with an average temperature of 12.1°C) and the coldest 1940 (with an average temperature of 8.1°C). The year 2020 is the second warmest year over the period 1901-2020 (with an average temperature of 11.9 °C). The absolute minimum temperature record of Romania is of -38.5°C/January 25th, 1942 (at Bod, in the Brașov Depression), whereas the absolute maximum temperature record reached 44.5°C/August 10th, 1951 (at Ion Sion, in the Bărăgan Plain). In terms of precipitation, the observed trends over the 1901-2020 period show no major changes in the annual amount of precipitation. At seasonal scale, some regions of Romania (e.g. the Transylvanian Depression, the Apuseni Mountains) exhibit an increase in autumn precipitation, whereas others (such as the Danube Delta, the Banat Region) show decreases in winter and spring. The highest annual precipitation amount ever recorded in Romania was of 2,398.0 mm/1941 at Vf. Omu station (2,504 m a.s.l., in the Bucegi Mountains), while the largest monthly precipitation was of 588.4 mm/June 2011 at Bâlea Lac station (2,100 m a.s.l., in the Făgăraș Mountains). The record of the maximum daily precipitation amount at national level reached 224.0 mm/ July 12th , 1999 at Stâna de Vale (1108 m a.s.l., in the Apuseni Mountains). The wettest year in Romania over the 1901-2020 was 2005 (861.2 mm) and the driest 2000 (391.4 mm). Romania has a population of 20 million people and GDP of 189 billion US dollars. The Annual Average Losses (AALs) are estimated to be approximately 2.2 billion US$ and 335,000 affected people for the whole country, which are 1.2% of the GDP and 1.7% of the population of Romania. Officially, the urbanization rate in Romania is roughly 55%, a level that is somewhat low compared to other parts of Europe. This rate has remained fairly constant for the past two decades, thus mirroring the situation in many other Eastern European countries shifting from a centrally planned economy to free market conditions. Recent research by the World Bank has pointed out, however, Romania has been suburbanizing, with the areas immediately around major cities growing by 300,000 even as there has been significant migration out of the country entirely. Because central government demographers still categorize some of these regions outside the urban core as rural, this shift has not yet made its way into the official population statistics. If this were done, the urbanization rate could rise to 65.2%. Population losses and location shifts manifest themselves in changing densification rates in Romania’s growth pole cities while the density levels in these cities are declining across the board, in some cases by as much as 48%. (Source (https://www.worldbank.org/ro/country/romania/brief/romania-climate-change-and-low-carbon-green-growth-program). The main causes that led to the decrease of Romania's population by 17% in the period 1990-2020 were migration abroad (labour migration, in particular), rising mortality rates and declining birth rates during this period. In 2020, 20.95% of Romania's population consisted of Romanians under the age of 20, while 59.9% of the population was between the ages of 20 and 64 years old, 11.1% of the population was between 65 and 74 years old, 8.05% of the population was over 75 years old5 . Life expectancy in 2020 was 79.75 years for women and 72.54 years for men. The average life expectancy in 2020 was 77.44 years in urban areas (74.09 years for men, 80.6 years for women) and 74.41 years in rural areas (70.69 years for men, 78.60 years for women) . The number of Romanians who emigrated abroad in 2018, 2019 and 2020 varied between 192,631 and 233,736 people, which represented approximately 1% of Romania's population. Population migration has a negative influence on the development of economic activity in Romania, because the largest part of the people who go abroad for a job are young and active people. New studies have been carried out for assessing the impact of heatwaves in Romanian urban areas. A new finding is the strong response of mortality caused by Circulatory System Diseases to high urban and low rural temperatures for women. Our findings suggest that women are statistically more vulnerable than men to thermal stress under the same climate hazard and exposure (either urban or rural ones) and this should be added to the list of more known vulnerable categories such as children, old people and people cu chronic diseases, in order to effectively adapt to climate change. The energy sector is the largest emitter of GHG, accounting for 70% of total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (excluding LULUCF) in Romania. It has also contributed 70% of the overall GHG emissions reduction since 1989. The sector naturally has the full attention for mitigation. Three quarters of the energy sector’s GHG emissions are from power and heat generation and non-transport fuel consumption. Economic growth and energy consumption in Romania has been decoupled since 1998, and the energy intensity of the economy, measured by primary energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product, has been decreasing. Romania has substantially lower per-capita energy consumption compared to high-income EU countries. A significant increase in energy demand is expected if the economy continues to grow. Transport statistics show a marked rise in mode share of private cars and a significant decline in rail mode share of passenger transport. Rail mode share is lower than the EU average, having been above average in 2000. Without intervention to provide better transport alternatives and encourage their use, as car ownership grows, car use is also likely to grow. Reasons for the decline in rail passengers are linked to the decaying state of the Romanian railway system. The modal split for freight movements in Romania (in terms of ton-km) has also changed in recent years. This shows a marked fall in rail freight mode share in recent years, together with a marked rise in road freight mode share. Also notable is the much larger waterborne freight mode share since 2009. Urban transport forms a major part of overall transport movements in Romania. Reduced precipitation, droughts and the associated reduced runoff may affect river navigation on the major waterways such as the Danube. This is something already being seen, according to the Lower Danube River Administration, with reduced water depths, meaning that the number of days requiring implementation of navigation restrictions is increasing. With a current population of 20 million, the average water availability in Romania amounts to 2000 cubic meters per capita per year. A significant inter-annual variation exists in water resources availability. In the driest years the water availability has fallen to 20 BCM. There is also a significant variation within Romania, with the basins of Jiu, Arges-Vedea, Buzua-Ialomita, Siret, Prut-Barlad, and Dobrogea-Littoral facing the most serious scarcities of water. Currently, water demand is based on industry (67%), agriculture (18%), and municipal (15%) use. Irrigated area in Romania has decreased from 2 million ha in the late 1908s/early 1990s to approx. 0.8 million ha (considered irrigable with functional infrastructure), as economically unviable schemes were closed down. About 70% of the water supply for domestic use is sourced from surface waters, compared to 95% dependence on surface waters for industrial supply. Romania’s hydropower potential is estimated at 36 TWh/year, and currently the total installed hydropower capacity amounts to 6,400MW. Hydropower generation accounts for 32% of Romania’s total electricity generation, and 16% of the total energy use. The total area of agricultural land in Romania is 15.9 million hectares, of which around 13.3 million ha (approximately 56% of total territory) is currently being used. Around 1.5 million ha of utilized agricultural area is covered by economically viable / marginally viable irrigation systems, although only about 800 000 ha is currently functional. Compared to other EU Member States, the ARD (agriculture and rural development) sector in Romania is extensive, occupying 59.8% of total territory and providing a home to 44.9% of the total population. A relatively high proportion of national Gross Added Value (32.4%) and employment (41.5%) is also generated in rural areas. The ARD sector in Romania is also diverse and complex with much variability in socioeconomic context and human / institutional capacity. Rural areas in Romania are characterized by low quality infrastructure and relatively undeveloped basic services (health and education systems, finance and credit facilities etc.) compared to the urban areas. The ARD sector is comprised of two distinct and clearly defined sub-sectors with: i) around one half of the agricultural land managed by a small number of very large-scale, capital intensive and technologically advanced farms, and; ii) the other half of agricultural land occupied by communities of very small-scale farmers practicing more traditional farming methods and producing goods largely for their own consumption. There are a total of 3.86 million agricultural holdings in Romania, of which 96.6% fall into this “small-scale, subsistence farm” sub-sector. These small farms provide an important socio-economic buffer and basic livelihood for a significant proportion of the rural population. They also have an important role to play in maintaining the vitality of rural communities and providing important social, cultural and environmental services to the wider Romanian society. Romania’s forests are roughly 27 % of the country land surface . Most of Romania’s forests are secondary forests and are distributed across the mountains, hills, and plains of the country. The forest sector and wood industry contributed 3.5% of GDP (INS CON 105D), and the forest sector was 7% of national exports. The forest sector is also an important employer in rural areas, formally employing approximately 140,000 people. There are an estimated 850,000 forest owners in Romania, including individuals, indivisible communes, and churches, owning small and large tracts of forests. Approximately 40% of the area under private ownership is managed by smallholders. The economic development of Romania is strongly linked to the worldwide economic development and to that of the European Union one, as it occurs in special complex international environment affected by the global economic-financial crisis and pandemic. The financial sector is also significantly exposed to climate-related risks: about 50 percent of the loan portfolio of the country’s banks is with companies affected by transition and physical risks, especially in the agricultural sector. Meteorological observations are synchronized and integrated on a European and on a global level. Romania participates in various fields of climate-related monitoring, on national level and in European and global programmes. Romanian experts exploit observing systems for the monitoring of Essential Climate Variables (ECVs) which describe: • Atmospheric climate (including measurements for some atmospheric constituents such as ozone); • Black sea climate; • Terrestrial climate. In Romania, monitoring activities have been synchronized with the European research area and World Meteorological Organization (WMO) programmes (especially from the Region VI) and with GCOS on global level. The National Meteorological Administration (NMA) is the main organization which performs systematic observations on atmospheric climate and, to a lesser extent, on parts of sea and terrestrial climate. These observations are gathered, validated and transferred in the National Meteorological Network (NMN). The NMN is organized in 7 Regional Meteorological Centers which consists of 166 operational weather stations, all of them being automatic weather stations (MAWS) and 24 of them are functioning autonomously. Observations at 63 rain gauging stations are made on a voluntary basis. 68 weather stations perform an agrometeorological measurement programme. Radiometric measurements are performed at: 112 weather stations (global radiation); 9 weather stations (diffuse and net radiation); 156 weather stations (effective sunshine duration). The programme of meteorological upper-air measurements is carried out at the Aerologic Observatory of Bucharest-Afumați, including two daily radio soundings (at 0000 and 1200 UTC). Daily wind soundings with PILOT balloon are also carried out at the station Bucharest Afumați at 0600 UTC. The operational National Meteorological Integrated System (SIMIN) was established in 2003. Within SIMIN the national radar network has been upgraded. Now, the national meteorological radar network consists of 7 Doppler weather radar systems. The radar information from all equipment is combined into a unique product – the national radar mosaic (available in 3 versions every 10 minutes). The radar information from Romanian network is useful for the neighbouring countries, too. Observations from meteorological satellites refer to receiving and processing in real time digital images and data from geostationary satellites METEOSAT-7 and MASG-1 in 3, and 12 spectral channels, respectively. The operative running of EUMETSAT/SAFNWC model started in February 2005, obtaining 8 of the 12 nowcasting products, every 15 minutes, which are transmitted to the National Forecasting Centre. Romania contributes to free data exchange under national law (Romanian Law of Meteorology) and international regulations (e.g. ECOMET rules). NMA participates in the international meteorological data exchange with a number of 23 stations in RBSN (Regional Basic Synoptic Network) and 14 stations in RBCN (Regional Basic Climatological Network) whic