Climate Reconstructions (1801 to 1938) Inferred from Tree-Ring Width Chronologies of the North American Arctic

Over the last few decades – at a range of northern sites – changes in tree-ring width and latewood density have not followed mean summertime temperature fluctuations. This discrepancy sharply contrasts an earlier correlation between those variables. As the origin of this inconsistency has not been fully deciphered, questions have emerged regarding the use of tree-ring width and latewood density as a proxy in dendrochronological climate reconstructions. I suggest that temperature is no longer the most limiting factor in certain boreal areas, which might explain the observed divergence.

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Tree-Ring Width and Carbon Isotope Chronologies Track Temperature, Humidity, and Baseflow in the Tianshan Mountains, Central Asia

Forests ◽

10.3390/f11121308 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 11 (12) ◽

pp. 1308

Author(s):

Yuting Fan ◽

Huaming Shang ◽

Ye Wu ◽

Qian Li

Keyword(s):

Stable Isotopes ◽

Tree Ring ◽

Ring Width ◽

River Basins ◽

Tianshan Mountains ◽

Limiting Factor ◽

Source Water ◽

Tree Ring Width ◽

The North ◽

Temperature And Precipitation

Concerns have been raised about the negative impacts of global warming on the hydrological climate change and ecosystems of Asia. Research on the high-altitude mountainous regions of Asia with relatively short meteorological and hydrological records relies on paleoclimate proxy data with long time scales. The stable isotopes of tree-rings are insightful agents that provide information on pre-instrumental climatic and hydrological fluctuations, yet the variability of these data from different regions along the Tianshan Mountains has not been fully explored. Herein, we related climate data with tree-ring width (TRW) chronologies and δ13C (stable carbon isotope discrimination) series to discern if the Picea schrenkiana in the Ili and Manas River Basins are sensitive to climatic factors and baseflow (BF). The results show significant correlations between temperature and TRW chronologies, temperature and δ13C, relative humidity and TRW chronologies, and BF and δ13C. Temperature, particularly the mean late summer to early winter temperature, is a pronounced limiting factor for the tree-ring and the δ13C series in the Manas River Basin, located in the middle of the North Tianshan Mountains. Meanwhile, mean early spring to early autumn temperature is a limiting factor for that of the Ili River Basin, located on the southern slope of the North Tianshan Mountains. We conclude that different seasonal variations in temperature and precipitation of the two river basins exerted significant control on tree growth dynamics. Tree-ring width and tree-ring δ13C differ in their sensitivity to climate and hydrological parameters to which tree-ring δ13C is more sensitive. δ13C showed significant lag with precipitation, and the lag correlation showed that BF, temperature, and precipitation were the most affected factors that are often associated with source water environments. δ13C series correlated positively to winter precipitation, suggesting baseflow was controlling the length of the growing season. The tree-ring δ13C provided information that coincided with TRW chronologies, and supplied some indications that were different from TRW chronologies. The carbon stable isotopes of tree-rings have proven to be powerful evidence of climatic signals and source water variations.

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Reconstruction of Past Erosional Force from Tree Ring Information around the Rokko Mountains, Japan

Quaternary Research ◽

10.1016/0033-5894(90)90034-i ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 34 (2) ◽

pp. 240-248 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Kenji Kashiwaya ◽

Takashi Okimura

Keyword(s):

Tree Ring ◽

Debris Flows ◽

Ring Width ◽

Tree Ring Width ◽

Mountain Areas ◽

Rainfall Events ◽

The Past ◽

The North ◽

First Approximation ◽

Landslides And Debris Flows

AbstractTorrential rainfalls in the Rokko Mountains have often triggered severe landslides and debris flows, but few such phenomena have occurred in the area just to the north of the mountains during the same rainfall events. The periodicity of 25–30 years in excess rainfall data (i.e., the annual summation of heavy rainfall of more than 100 mm/day during the past 100 years) around the mountains correlates with the increased frequency of landslides and debris flows. Analyses of tree-ring widths that span the past 50–240 years in samples taken from various areas in the mountains and the area just to the north indicate that most sequences have a dominant periodicity of about 25–30 years, the ring series in the mountain areas having a more conspicuous periodicity than those from the area just to the north. These results lead to the conclusion that excess rainfall may provide a first approximation of erosional force in areas affected by slope movement, and that tree-ring width may be used as a proxy for erosional force.

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Removal of a non-climatically induced seven-year cycle from Nothofagus pumilio tree-ring width chronologies from Tierra del Fuego, Argentina for their use in climate reconstructions

Dendrochronologia ◽

10.1016/j.dendro.2019.125610 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 57 ◽

pp. 125610 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Vladimir Matskovsky ◽

Fidel Alejandro Roig ◽

Guillermo Martínez Pastur

Keyword(s):

Tree Ring ◽

Ring Width ◽

Tierra Del Fuego ◽

Nothofagus Pumilio ◽

Tree Ring Width ◽

Climate Reconstructions

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Tree-ring width and maximum latewood density at the North American tree line: parameters of climatic change

Canadian Journal of Forest Research ◽

10.1139/x92-171 ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 22 (9) ◽

pp. 1290-1296 ◽

Cited By ~ 92

Author(s):

Rosanne D. D'Arrigo ◽

Gordon C. Jacoby ◽

Rosemary M. Free

Keyword(s):

Climatic Change ◽

Tree Ring ◽

North American ◽

Ring Width ◽

Positive Temperature ◽

Tree Line ◽

Tree Ring Width ◽

Maximum Latewood Density ◽

Latewood Density ◽

Instrumental Records

In remote subarctic North America, instrumental records are very short and sparsely distributed. Yet a long-term understanding of subarctic climate is critical to studies of global change. Annual tree-ring width and maximum latewood density are complementary, high-resolution parameters with different environmental and physiological controls that can be used to assess recent centuries of climatic change. In this paper we present a comparison of the different temperature information inferred from these parameters for white spruce (Piceaglauca (Moench) Voss), a dominant North American latitudinal tree line species. Ring-width and maximum latewood density chronologies (with a common period from 1720–1977) are shown for five sites along a widely spaced transect of the forest–tundra transition in northern Canada. The positive temperature response of maximum latewood density to year to year local temperatures is more consistent and covers a longer portion of the growing season than does that of ring width. Unlike density, the ring-width data show a preference for cold spring conditions. Some, but not all, of the ring-width and density series display increases during the recent century's large-scale climatic warming trend. It is concluded that both types of parameters are necessary for understanding changes in climate and forest dynamics at the northern tree line.

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