An assessment of the relationship between spring frost indicators and global crop yield losses.

Reports on the influences of spring frost on crop losses are not consistent, which may be because insufficient indicators of spring frost were included in the analysis. To bridge this gap, we analyzed global temperature datasets and production data for the three major crops of maize, winter wheat, and rice from 1981 to 2016. Five indicators of spring frost events: temperature fluctuation (T), temperature difference (T), duration (T), occurrence date (T), and frequency (T) were considered to assess their relationship with yield losses.