Lehner, AlexanderAlexanderLehnerPhilippe, DylanDylanPhilippe2025-02-032025-02-032025-01-17https://boris-portal.unibe.ch/handle/20.500.12422/203530Throughout the last centuries, European climate changed substantially, which affected the potential to plant and grow crops. These changes happened not just over time but also had a spatial dimension. Yet, despite large climatic fluctuations, quantitative historical studies typically rely on static measures for agricultural suitability due to the non-availability of time-varying indices. Relying on recent advances in paleoclimatology, we bridge this gap by constructing a spatio-temporal measure for agricultural suitability across Europe for a period of 500 years. Our gridded index has a 0.5° resolution and is available at a yearly level. It relies on a simple surface energy and water balance model, focusing only on so-called exogenous geographic and climatic features. Our index captures not just long-term trends, such as the Little Ice Age, but also short-term climatic shocks. It will empower researchers to explore the interplay between climatic fluctuations and Europe's agricultural landscape, analyze human responses at a local and regional scale, and foster a deeper understanding of the region's historical dynamics.en500 - Science::550 - Earth sciences & geologyarticle10.48620/850923982490510.1038/s41597-024-04194-z