Boreal temperature variability inferred from maximum latewood density and tree-ring width data, Wrangell Mountain region, Alaska

2003 ◽  
Vol 60 (3) ◽  
pp. 252-262 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole K. Davi ◽  
Gordon C. Jacoby ◽  
Gregory C. Wiles

AbstractVariations in both width and density of annual rings from a network of tree chronologies were used to develop high-resolution proxies to extend the climate record in the Wrangell Mountain region of Alaska. We developed a warm-season (July–September) temperature reconstruction that spans A.D. 1593–1992 based on the first eigenvector from principal component analysis of six maximum latewood density (MXD) chronologies. The climate/tree-growth model accounts for 51% of the temperature variance from 1958 to 1992 and shows cold in the late 1600s–early 1700s followed by a warmer period, cooling in the late 1700s–early 1800s, and warming in the 20th century. The 20th century is the warmest of the past four centuries. Several severely cold warm-seasons coincide with major volcanic eruptions. The first eigenvector from a ring-width (RW) network, based on nine chronologies from the Wrangell Mountain region (A.D. 1550–1970), is correlated positively with both reconstructed and recorded Northern Hemisphere temperatures. RW shows a temporal history similar to that of MXD by increased growth (warmer) and decreased growth (cooler) intervals and trends. After around 1970 the RW series show a decrease in growth, while station data show continued warming, which may be related to increasing moisture stress or other factors. Both the temperature history based on MXD and the growth trends from the RW series are consistent with well-dated glacier fluctuations in the Wrangell Mountains and some of the temperature variations also correspond to variations in solar activity.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom De Mil ◽  
Matthew Salzer ◽  
Charlotte Pearson ◽  
Valerie Trouet ◽  
Jan Van den Bulcke

<p>Great Basin Bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva) is known for its trees that attain old age. The longest chronology is more than 9000 years long, and the temperature-sensitive upper treeline chronology extends back to 5000 years. The ring width pattern of upper treeline bristlecone pine trees are strongly influenced by temperature variability at decadal to centennial scales. To infer a climate signal on annual scales, MXD is shown to be a better temperature proxy. Here, we present a preliminary Maximum Latewood Density (MXD) chronology of bristlecone pine to investigate the temperature signal in upper treeline and below. Maximum latewood density (MXD) from 24 dated cores (from various sites ranging from the upper treeline and below, oldest sample dates back to 776 AD) was determined with an X-ray CT toolchain. Ring and fibre angles were corrected and a MXD chronology was constructed. The resulting MXD chronology will be correlated to summer temperature. Future scanning will allow constructing a + 5000 year MXD chronology and could reveal the cooling effect of volcanic eruptions through this period.</p>


Author(s):  
Olga V. Churakova (Sidorova) ◽  
Marina V. Fonti ◽  
Alexander V. Kirdyanov ◽  
Vladimir S. Myglan ◽  
Valentin V. Barinov ◽  
...  

Stratospheric volcanic eruptions have had significant impacts on the radiation budget, atmospheric and surface temperatures, precipitation and regional weather patterns, resulting in global climatic changes. The changes associated with such eruptions most commonly result in cooling during several years after events. This study aimed to reveal eco-physiological response of larch trees from northeastern Yakutia (YAK), eastern Taimyr (TAY) and Altai (ALT) regions to climatic anomalies after major volcanic eruptions CE 535, 540, 1257, 1641, 1815 and 1991 using new multiple tree-ring parameters: tree-ring width (TRW), maximum latewood density (MXD), cell wall thicknesses (CWT), δ13C and δ18O in tree-ring cellulose. This investigation showed that TRW, CWT, MXD and δ18O chronologies recorded temperature signal, while information about precipitation and vapor pressure deficit was captured by δ13C chronologies. Sunshine duration was well recorded in δ18O from YAK and ALT. Tree-ring parameters recorded cold, wet and cloudy summer anomalies during the 6th and 13th centuries. However, significant summer anomalies after Tambora (1815) and Pinatubo (1991) eruptions were not captured by any tree-ring parameters


1996 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 474-481 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory C. Wiles ◽  
Rosanne D. D'Arrigo ◽  
Gordon C. Jacoby

Warm-season (April–September) temperature models based on a network of coastal ring-width and maximum latewood density tree-ring chronologies are the first reconstructions for coastal stations along the Gulf of Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. These well-verified temperature models are consistent with long climatic series from coastal stations and other proxy data from the Pacific coast. Cool summers during the 1850s and late 1800s in the Gulf of Alaska correspond to general glacier advance from the region. The Pacific Northwest reconstruction shows summer temperatures cooling in the early 1800s, coincident with a maximum of glacier activity in the coastal Olympic Mountains, Washington. The two warm-season temperature records show intervals when anomalies are opposite in sign, most notably during the 1850s, when cooling is inferred for the Gulf and warming is inferred for the Pacific Northwest. The records are coherent, however, during other intervals, with both showing cooling in the early 1800s and warming around 1870. The phase of these two records may reflect decadal changes in large-scale circulation in the northeastern Pacific. These land temperature reconstructions are strongly correlated with nearby sea surface temperatures, indicating large-scale oceanic–atmospheric influences.


1996 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 143-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosanne D. D'arrigo ◽  
Edward R. Cook ◽  
Gordon C. Jacoby

Temperature-sensitive maximum latewood density chronologies from sites near tree line in Labrador are used to infer past changes in warm-season surface air and sea surface temperatures for the northwest Atlantic. Temperatures are reconstructed for the Grand Banks region based on density records from southern Labrador, while a density series from near Okak Fiord, northern Labrador, is used to infer past temperature variations for north-coastal Labrador and the adjacent Labrador Sea. The Labrador chronologies show good agreement with annual and decadal-scale temperature fluctuations over the recent period of instrumental record, and extend this temperature information into the past by several centuries. The lowest density value at the Okak site occurs in 1816, known as the "year without a summer" in eastern North America. Spectral analyses reveal statistically significant variations with periods of around 8.7, 18–22, and 45–66 years. These fluctuations are in general agreement with those identified in several instrumental and modeling analyses of North Atlantic climate.


1994 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malcolm K. Hughes ◽  
Wu Xiangding ◽  
Shao Xuemei ◽  
Gregg M. Garfin

AbstractMay-June (MJ) and April-July (AJ) precipitation at Huashan in north-central China has been reconstructed for the period A.D. 1600 to 1988 using tree-ring density and width fromPinus armandii. MJ precipitation (based on ring width and maximum latewood density) calibrated and cross-validated against local instrumental data more strongly than AJ precipitation (based only on ring width). A major drought was reconstructed for the mid- and late 1920s, confirmed by local documentary sources. This drought (culminating in 1929) was the most severe of the 389-yr period for MJ and second most severe for AJ, after an event ending in 1683. Neither reconstruction shows much spectral power at frequencies lower than 1 in 10 yr, but both show concentrations of power between 2.1 and 2.7 yr and 3.5 to 9 yr. There are significant correlations between the two reconstructions and a regional dryness/wetness index (DW) based on documentary sources, particularly at high frequencies. These correlations are focused in the 7.6- to 7.3-, 3.8- to 3.6-, and 2.5-yr periods. Using singular spectrum analysis, quasiperiodic behavior with a period close to 7.2 yr was identified in the MJ precipitation reconstruction and in the DW index based on documents.


2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 685-700 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olga V. Churakova (Sidorova) ◽  
Marina V. Fonti ◽  
Matthias Saurer ◽  
Sébastien Guillet ◽  
Christophe Corona ◽  
...  

Abstract. Stratospheric volcanic eruptions have far-reaching impacts on global climate and society. Tree rings can provide valuable climatic information on these impacts across different spatial and temporal scales. To detect temperature and hydroclimatic changes after strong stratospheric Common Era (CE) volcanic eruptions for the last 1500 years (535 CE unknown, 540 CE unknown, 1257 CE Samalas, 1640 CE Parker, 1815 CE Tambora, and 1991 CE Pinatubo), we measured and analyzed tree-ring width (TRW), maximum latewood density (MXD), cell wall thickness (CWT), and δ13C and δ18O in tree-ring cellulose chronologies of climate-sensitive larch trees from three different Siberian regions (northeastern Yakutia – YAK, eastern Taimyr – TAY, and Russian Altai – ALT). All tree-ring proxies proved to encode a significant and specific climatic signal of the growing season. Our findings suggest that TRW, MXD, and CWT show strong negative summer air temperature anomalies in 536, 541–542, and 1258–1259 at all studied regions. Based on δ13C, 536 was extremely humid at YAK, as was 537–538 in TAY. No extreme hydroclimatic anomalies occurred in Siberia after the volcanic eruptions in 1640, 1815, and 1991, except for 1817 at ALT. The signal stored in δ18O indicated significantly lower summer sunshine duration in 542 and 1258–1259 at YAK and 536 at ALT. Our results show that trees growing at YAK and ALT mainly responded the first year after the eruptions, whereas at TAY, the growth response occurred after 2 years. The fact that differences exist in climate responses to volcanic eruptions – both in space and time – underlines the added value of a multiple tree-ring proxy assessment. As such, the various indicators used clearly help to provide a more realistic picture of the impact of volcanic eruption on past climate dynamics, which is fundamental for an improved understanding of climate dynamics, but also for the validation of global climate models.


2020 ◽  
Vol 64 ◽  
pp. 125771
Author(s):  
Feng Wang ◽  
Dominique Arseneault ◽  
Étienne Boucher ◽  
Gabrielle Galipaud Gloaguen ◽  
Anne Deharte ◽  
...  

2006 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael G. Loso ◽  
Robert S. Anderson ◽  
Suzanne P. Anderson ◽  
Paula J. Reimer

AbstractWe present a varve thickness chronology from glacier-dammed Iceberg Lake in the southern Alaska icefields. Radiogenic evidence confirms that laminations are annual and record continuous sediment deposition from A.D. 442 to A.D. 1998. Varve thickness is positively correlated with Northern Hemisphere temperature trends, and more strongly with a local, ∼600 yr long tree ring width chronology. Varve thickness increases in warm summers because of higher melt, runoff, and sediment transport (as expected), but also because shrinkage of the glacier dam allows shoreline regression that concentrates sediment in the smaller lake. Varve thickness provides a sensitive record of relative changes in warm season temperatures. Relative to the entire record, temperatures implied by this chronology were lowest around A.D. 600, warm between A.D. 1000 and A.D. 1300, cooler between A.D. 1500 and A.D. 1850, and have increased dramatically since then. Combined with stratigraphic evidence that contemporary jökulhlaups (which began in 1999) are unprecedented since at least A.D. 442, this record suggests that 20th century warming is more intense, and accompanied by more extensive glacier retreat, than the Medieval Warm Period or any other time in the last 1500 yr.


Trees ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander V. Kirdyanov ◽  
Eugene A. Vaganov ◽  
Malcolm K. Hughes

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