scholarly journals Reconstructing Summer Precipitation with MXD Data from Pinus sylvestris Growing in the Stockholm Archipelago

Atmosphere ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 790
Author(s):  
Eva Rocha ◽  
Björn E. Gunnarson ◽  
Steffen Holzkämper

Maximum latewood density (MXD) chronologies have been widely used to reconstruct summer temperature variations. Precipitation signals inferred from MXD data are, however, rather scarce. In this study, we assess the potential of using MXD data derived from Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) growing in the Stockholm archipelago (Sweden) to reconstruct past precipitation variability. In this area, slow-growing pine trees emerge on flat plateaus of bedrock outcrops with thin or absent soil layers and are, therefore, sensitive to moisture variability. A 268-year-long MXD chronology was produced, and climate–growth relationships show a significant and robust correlation with May–July precipitation (PMJJr = 0.64, p < 0.01). The MXD based May–July precipitation reconstruction covers the period 1750–2018 CE and explains 41% of the variance (r2) of the observed precipitation (1985–2018). The reconstruction suggests that the region has experienced more pluvial phases than drought conditions since the 1750s. The latter half of the 18th century was the wettest and the first half of the 19th century the driest. Climate analysis of “light rings” (LR), latewood layers of extreme low-density cells, finds their occurrence often coincides with significantly dry (<41 mm precipitation) and warmer (1–2 °C above average temperature), May–July conditions. Our analysis suggests that these extremes may be triggered by the summer North Atlantic Oscillation (SNAO).

2009 ◽  
Vol 22 (17) ◽  
pp. 4710-4722 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karin Jönsson ◽  
Christer Nilsson

Abstract Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) trees growing on shingle fields offer a unique possibility to reconstruct precipitation and study climate variability in the fairly humid eastern part of central Sweden. Tree-ring characteristics were compared with monthly (1890–2001) and daily (1961–2001) climate data from an adjacent meteorological station. Chronologies for latewood (LW), earlywood (EW), and tree-ring widths (RW) were constructed from 73 living and dead trees. Correlation analyses show that tree growth is most sensitive to early summer precipitation. EW shows the strongest correlation with precipitation in May and June while LW is best correlated with June and July precipitation. A reconstruction model for May–June precipitation was calculated using principal component analysis (PCA) regression (regular regression) including EW, LW, and RW for present and previous years. The model explained 46% of the variation in May–June precipitation and allowed a reconstruction back to 1560. Information about wet and dry years was collected from historical documents and was used to validate the result. Periods with precipitation above and below the mean show agreement with previous reconstructions of spring precipitation from tree rings in Finland and of spring floods from estuary sediments in the region. Analyses of correlations between meteorological stations and reconstructed precipitation show that the model is valid for the coastal part of central Sweden. The authors conclude that Scots pine trees on shingle fields are well suited for precipitation reconstruction, and the separate analyses of LW and EW improve the reconstruction.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Viorica Nagavciuc ◽  
Cătălin-Constantin Roibu ◽  
Monica Ionita ◽  
Andrei Mursa ◽  
Mihai-Gabriel Cotos ◽  
...  

&lt;p&gt;The aim of this study was to compare the climatic responses of three tree rings proxies: tree ring width (TRW),&lt;br&gt;maximum latewood density (MXD), and blue intensity (BI). For this study, 20 cores of Pinus sylvestris covering&lt;br&gt;the period 1886&amp;#8211;2015 were extracted from living non-damaged trees from the Eastern Carpathian Mountains&lt;br&gt;(Romania). Each chronology was compared to monthly and daily climate data. All tree ring proxies had a&lt;br&gt;stronger correlation with the daily climate data compared to monthly data. The highest correlation coefficient&lt;br&gt;was obtained between the MXD chronology and daily maximum temperature over the period beginning with the&lt;br&gt;end of July and ending in the middle of September (r=0.64). The optimal intervals for the temperature signature&lt;br&gt;were 01 Aug &amp;#8211; 24 Sept for the MXD chronology, 05 Aug &amp;#8211; 25 Aug for the BI chronology, and both 16 Nov&lt;br&gt;of the previous year &amp;#8211; 16 March of the current year and 15 Apr &amp;#8211; 05 May for the TRW chronology. The results&lt;br&gt;from our study indicate that MXD can be used as a proxy indicator for summer maximum temperature, while&lt;br&gt;TRW can be used as a proxy indicator for just March maximum temperature. The weak and unstable relationship&lt;br&gt;between BI and maximum temperature indicates that BI is not a good proxy indicator for climate reconstructions&lt;br&gt;over the analysed region.&lt;/p&gt;


2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 9-22
Author(s):  
Marek Maciejewski

The origin of universities reaches the period of Ancient Greece when philosophy (sophists, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, stoics and others) – the “Queen of sciences”, and the first institutions of higher education (among others, Plato’s Academy, Cassiodorus’ Vivarium, gymnasia) came into existence. Even before the new era, schools having the nature of universities existed also beyond European borders, including those in China and India. In the early Middle Ages, those types of schools functioned in Northern Africa and in the Near East (Baghdad, Cairo, Constantinople, cities of Southern Spain). The first university in the full meaning of the word was founded at the end of the 11th century in Bologna. It was based on a two-tiered education cycle. Following its creation, soon new universities – at first – in Italy, then (in the 12th and 13th century) in other European cities – were established. The author of the article describes their modes of operation, the methods of conducting research and organizing students’ education, the existing student traditions and customs. From the very beginning of the universities’ existence the study of law was part of their curricula, based primarily on the teaching of Roman law and – with time – the canon law. The rise of universities can be dated from the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of modernity. In the 17th and 18th century they underwent a crisis which was successfully overcome at the end of the 19th century and throughout the following one.


1989 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 319-328
Author(s):  
Salahudeen Yusuf

The history of Islam in part of what is known today as Nigeria datesto about the loth Century. Christianity dates to the late 18th Century. Bythe middle of the 19th Century, when Nigerian newspapers began to appearon the streets of Nigeria, both religions had won so many followers and extendedto so many places in Nigeria that very few areas were untouched bytheir influence. The impact of both religions on their adherents not only determinedtheir spiritual life, but influenced their social and political lives aswell. It therefore became inevitable that both religions receive coverage frommost of the newspapers of the time. How the newspapers as media of informationand communication reported issues about the two religions is thetheme of this paper.Rationale for the StudyThe purpose of this study is to highlight the context in which such earlynewspapers operated and the factors that dictated their performance. Thisis because it is assumed that when a society faces external threat to its territory,culture, and independence, all hands (the press inclusive) ought tobe on deck to resist the threat with all might. Were newspapers used as verbalartillery and how did they present each religion? It is also assumed thatin a multireligious society a true press should be objective and serve as avanguard in the promotion of the interest of the people in general and notcreate or foster an atmosphere of religious conflict. The study also aims atfinding out whether the papers promoted intellectual honesty and fosteredthe spirit of unity particularly when the society was faced with the encroachmentof the British who posed a threat to their freedom, culture, economy ...


2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 64-81

The article analyzes Michel Foucault’s philosophical ideas on Western medicine and delves into three main insights that the French philosopher developed to expose the presence of power behind the veil of the conventional experience of medicine. These insights probe the power-disciplining function of psychiatry, the administrative function of medical institutions, and the role of social medicine in the administrative and political system of Western society. Foucault arrived at theses insights by way of his intense interest in three elements of the medical system that arose almost simultaneously at the end of the 18th century - psychiatry as “medicine for mental illness”, the hospital as the First and most well-known type of medical institution, and social medicine as a type of medical knowledge focused more on the protection of society and far less on caring for the individual. All the issues Foucault wrote about stemmed from his personal and professional sensitivity to the problems of power and were a part of the “medical turn” in the social and human sciences that occurred in the West in the 1960s and 1970s and led to the emergence of medical humanities. The article argues that Foucault’s stories about the power of medical knowledge were philosophical stories about Western medicine. Foucault always used facts, dates, and names in an attempt to identify some of the general tendencies and patterns in the development of Western medicine and to reveal usually undisclosed mechanisms for managing individuals and populations. Those mechanisms underlie the practice of providing assistance, be it the “moral treatment” practiced by psychiatrists before the advent of effective medication, or treating patients as “clinical cases” in hospitals, or hospitalization campaigns that were considered an effective “technological safe-guard ” in the 18th and most of the 19th century.


1979 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 247-255 ◽  
Author(s):  
John C. Kramer

Opium smoking began spreading slowly but steadily in China from early in the 18th Century. It grew through the 19th Century to the point that by the end of the century it became a nearly universal practice among males in some regions. While estimates vary, it appears that most smokers consumed six grams or less daily. Addicted smokers were occasionally found among those smoking as little as three grams daily, but more often addicted smokers reported use of about 12 grams a day or more. An individual smoking twelve grams of opium probably ingests about 80 mg. of morphine. Thirty mg. of morphine daily may induce some withdrawal signs, while 60 mg. daily are clearly addicting. While testimony varied widely, it appears likely that most opium smokers were not disabled by their practice. This appears to be the case today, too, among those peoples in southeast Asia who have continued to smoke opium. There appear to be social and perhaps psychophysiological forces which work toward limiting the liabilities of drug use.


2015 ◽  
Vol 105 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kennedy Boateng ◽  
Kathy J. Lewis

We studied spore dispersal by Dothistroma septosporum, causal agent of a serious outbreak of red band needle blight in lodgepole pine plantations in northwest British Columbia. Spore abundance was assessed at different distances and heights from inoculum sources and microclimatic factors were recorded during two consecutive years. Conidia were observed on spore traps from June to September during periods of rainfall. It was rare to detect spores more than 2 m away from inoculum sources. The timing and number of conidia dispersed were strongly tied to the climatic variables, particularly rainfall and leaf wetness. Should the trend toward increased spring and summer precipitation in the study area continue, the results suggest that disease spread and intensification will also increase. Increasing the planting distances between lodgepole pine trees through mixed species plantations and overall reduction in use of lodgepole pine for regeneration in wet areas are the best strategies to reduce the spread of the disease and enhance future productivity of plantations in the study area.


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.


Polar Record ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 291-303 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Lähteenmäki

ABSTRACTThe academic study of local and regional history in Sweden took on a quite new form and significance in the 18th century. Humiliating defeats in wars had brought the kingdom's period of greatness to an end and forced the crown to re-evaluate the country's position and image and reconsider the internal questions of economic efficiency and settlement. One aspect in this was more effective economic and political control over the peripheral parts of the realm, which meant that also the distant region of Kemi Lapland, bordering on Russia, became an object of systematic government interest. The practical local documentation of this area took the form of dissertations prepared by students native to the area under the supervision of well known professors, reports sent back by local ministers and newspaper articles. The people responsible for communicating this information may be said to have functioned as ‘mimic men’ in the terminology of H.K. Bhabha. This supervised gathering and publication of local information created the foundation for the nationalist ideology and interest in ordinary people and local cultures that emerged at the end of the century and flourished during the 19th century.


The Holocene ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 095968362199465
Author(s):  
Dael Sassoon ◽  
William J Fletcher ◽  
Alastair Hotchkiss ◽  
Fern Owen ◽  
Liting Feng

Around 4000 cal yr BP, Scots pine ( Pinus sylvestris) suffered a widespread demise across the British Isles. This paper presents new information about P. sylvestris populations found in the Welsh Marches (western central Britain), for which the long-term history and origins are poorly known. Two new pollen records were produced from the Lin Can Moss ombrotrophic bog (LM18) and the Breidden Hill pond (BH18). The LM18 peat core is supported by loss-on-ignition, humification analysis and radiocarbon dating. Lead concentrations were used to provide an estimated timeframe for the recent BH18 record. In contrast to many other Holocene pollen records from the British Isles, analysis of LM18 reveals that Scots pine grains were deposited continuously between c. 6900–300 cal yr BP, at frequencies of 0.3–5.4%. It is possible that individual Scots pine trees persisted through the wider demise on thin soils of steep drought-prone crags of hills or the fringes of lowland bogs in the Welsh Marches. At BH18, the record indicates a transition from broadleaved to mixed woodland, including conifer species introduced around AD 1850 including Picea and Pinus. The insights from BH18 suggest that the current populations may largely be the result of planting. Comparison of the LM18 findings with other regional pollen records highlights consistent patterns, including a Mid-Holocene maximum (ca. 7000 cal yr BP), long-term persistence at low pollen percentages and a Late-Holocene minimum (ca. 3000 cal yr BP). These distinctive trends encourage further studies on refugial areas for Scots pine in this region and elsewhere.


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