The aim of this study is to analyze the performance of the Drought Severity Index (DSI) in Romania and its validation based on other data sources (meteorological data, soil moisture content (SMC), agricultural production). Also, it is to assess the drought based on a multi-temporal analysis and trends of the DSI obtained from Terra MODIS satellite images. DSI is a standardized product based on evapotranspiration (ET) and the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), highlighting the differences over a certain period of time compared to the average. The study areas are located in Romania: three important agricultural lands (Oltenia Plain, Baragan Plain and Banat Plain), which have different environmental characteristics. MODIS products have been used over a period of 19 years (2001–2019) during the vegetation season of the agricultural crops (April–September). The results point out that those agricultural areas from the Baragan Plain and Oltenia Plain were more affected by drought than those from Banat Plain, especially in the years 2002, 2007 and 2012. Also, the drought intensity and the agricultural surfaces affected by drought decreased in the first part of the vegetation season (March–May) and increased in the last part (August–September) in all three study areas analyzed. All these results are confirmed by those of the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) and Soil Moisture Anomaly (SMA) indices.

Land degradation (LD) and desertification (DS) are a sensitive global issue including southern and south-eastern Europe, which is severely affected by climate change. In this study, a state-of-the-art approach for assessing the intensity of LD and DS processes using remote-sensing-derived indicators within a GIS environment was proposed. The analysis was carried out using the Principal Component Analysis based on integrating the significant trends of relevant biophysical parameters in Romania. The methodology was tested and validated at the national level in Romania. In total, 7.76% of the area was identified as LD and 60.8% of the total area tended to improve, and 31.44% was stable. Most of the regions with LD overlapped with the dryland areas, while improvement areas were identified outside of the drylands. In forested areas from high altitudes, a tendency to improve the condition of vegetation was observed, and most of the surfaces being protected were natural areas that have benefited from proper management. All these results can be used to adapt management practices to avoid, reduce, or restore the LD. The proposed model was based on globally available remote sensing datasets, with a high frequency of data acquisition and collection history that allows for the statistical analyses of changes on a global scale.

This paper will assess the sensitivity of soil moisture anomaly (SMA) obtained from the Soil water index (SWI) product Metop ASCAT, to identify drought in Romania. The SWI data were converted from relative values (%) to absolute values (m³ m⁻³) using the soil porosity method. The conversion results (SM) were validated using soil moisture in situ measurements from ISMN at 5 cm depths (2015–2020). The SMA was computed based on a 10 day SWI product, between 2007 and 2020. The analysis was performed for the depths of 5 cm (near surface), 40 cm (sub surface), and 100 cm (root zone). The standardized precipitation index (SPI), land surface temperature anomaly (LST anomaly), and normalized difference vegetation index anomaly (NDVI anomaly) were computed in order to compare the extent and intensity of drought events. The best correlations between SM and in situ measurements are for the stations located in the Getic Plateau (Bacles (r = 0.797) and Slatina (r = 0.672)), in the Western Plain (Oradea (r = 0.693)), and in the Moldavian Plateau (Iasi (r = 0.608)). The RMSE were between 0.05 and 0.184. Furthermore, the correlations between the SMA and SPI, the LST anomaly, and the NDVI anomaly were significantly registered in the second half of the warm season (July–September). Due to the predominantly agricultural use of the land, the results can be useful for the management of water resources and irrigation in regions frequently affected by drought.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of moisture conditions on the productivity of agricultural crops within the Oltenia Plain, Romania at various time scales. The agro-databases contain the productions of winter wheat, maize and sunflower reported by the National Institute of Statistics and Agricultural Department for the period 1971-2013. The meteorological elements used were represented by the rainfall amount and air-temperature recorded at the six meteorological stations: Drobeta-Turnu Severin, Calafat, Băilești, Bechet, Craiova, Caracal and Turnu-Magurele. According to the SPI and De Martonne Index, the driest years, with low rainfall amounts, were 1983-1985, 1993, 2000, 2002, 2007 and 2012, with different degrees of water deficit. Moreover, the years with the lowest productions were recorded in the last half of the analysed period: 1993, 1996, 2000, 2002, 2007 and 2012. The impact of the drought variability of yield on the agricultural crops was evaluated using Bravais-Pearson correlations test, which was statistically significant in the last half of the reference period, while the correlation in the first half of the period it was not statistically significant. This result can be explained by the political system and the gradual degradation of the irrigation system, which determined the addiction on climatic conditions after '89 years.

Grassland habitat degradation intensified in the last century worldwide and in Europe. In Romania, substantial areas of biodiverse grassland habitats that persisted due to small-scale farming are now threatened by recent land-use intensification. However, data regarding the deviation from grazing optimum, essential for management plans encompassing both socioeconomic sustainability and environment conservation, are not yet available. To fill this gap, detailed statistics of the stocking rate and its deviation from optimum were generated by spatial modeling techniques. A toolbox was developed to assess such deviations inside or outside the Natura 2000 Network of protected areas. The analysis covered an area of 33529.42 km2, corresponding to all the Romanian permanent grasslands within the land parcel identification system. The results indicate that over half of this area is degraded, mostly from overgrazing. Less than 10% is not impacted by inadequate livestock density. Of the national grassland area, 17.34% is included within the Natura 2000 protected sites, indicating the substantial overlapping of agricultural and protection activities. For this category, the degraded area is slightly lower than at the national level (50.34% vs. 52.45%). These results can be applied for environmental conflict anticipation and optimal management of grassland habitats to achieve both socioeconomic and conservation objectives.

Globally, ecosystems are constantly degrading as a result of pressures derived from human activities and climate change. For working towards the restoration of the natural balance, it is necessary to evaluate the deviations induced in the ecosystems, to identify where the changes took place, to know what is their amplitude and to decide where it is possible to get involved. Many aquatic ecosystems are depreciated and their restoration is often difficult. Development of appropriate assessment methodologies will improve the decision-making process in public policies for environmental protection and conservation of biodiversity. This study presents an assessment of the degradation level of lentic ecosystems in Romania, performed through a multi-criteria analysis. An extension of the WRASTIC index (Wastewater-Recreational-Agricultural-Size-Transportations-Indutrial-Cover) was generated, namely WRASTIC-HI. The new index was obtained by including values derived from the Potential Pollutant Load index. The analysis showed that 13% of the evaluated lakes are natural, 56.5% are semi-degraded and 30.5% are degraded. The proposed methodology allows to determine the spatial distribution of the degradation sources and to calculate the corresponding indicators. The results obtained provide a useful tool for diagnostic step that can be used as a cornerstone to further identification of environmental conflicts and proposals for improvement of the ecological status of the lentic ecosystems.