scholarly journals Large-scale climate signals of a European oxygen isotope network from tree rings

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 1005-1023
Author(s):  
Daniel F. Balting ◽  
Monica Ionita ◽  
Martin Wegmann ◽  
Gerhard Helle ◽  
Gerhard H. Schleser ◽  
...  

Abstract. We investigate the climate signature of δ18O tree-ring records from sites distributed all over Europe covering the last 400 years. An empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis reveals two distinct modes of variability on the basis of the existing δ18O tree-ring records. The first mode is associated with anomaly patterns projecting onto the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and reflects a multi-seasonal climatic signal. The ENSO link is pronounced for the last 130 years, but it is found to be weak over the period from 1600 to 1850, suggesting that the relationship between ENSO and the European climate may not be stable over time. The second mode of δ18O variability, which captures a north–south dipole in the European δ18O tree-ring records, is related to a regional summer atmospheric circulation pattern, revealing a pronounced centre over the North Sea. Locally, the δ18O anomalies associated with this mode show the same (opposite) sign with temperature (precipitation). Based on the oxygen isotopic signature derived from tree rings, we argue that the prevailing large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns and the related teleconnections can be analysed beyond instrumental records.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel F. Balting ◽  
Monica Ionita ◽  
Martin Wegmann ◽  
Gerhard Helle ◽  
Gerhard H. Schleser ◽  
...  

Abstract. We investigate the annual variability of δ18O tree ring records from sites distributed all over Europe covering the last 400 years. An Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF) analysis reveals two distinct modes of variability on the basis of the existing δ18O tree ring records. The first mode of δ18O variability is associated with anomaly patterns of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and reflects a multi-seasonal climatic signal. The ENSO signal is visible for the last 130 years, but is found weak during the period 1600 to 1850 suggesting that the relationship between ENSO and the European climate may not stable over time. The second mode of δ18O variability, which captures an out-of-phase variability between northwestern and southeastern European δ18O tree ring records, is related to a regional summer atmospheric circulation pattern revealing a pronounced centre over the North Sea. Locally, the δ18O anomalies associated with this mode show the same (opposite) sign with temperature (precipitation). We infer that the investigation of large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns and related teleconnections far beyond instrumental records can be done with oxygen isotopic signature derived from tree rings. However, the European δ18Ocel tree network needs to be consolidated and updated, as well as additional research on the stationarity of reconstructed climate signals and the stationarity of teleconnections is advisable.


2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Nikolaos Styllas ◽  
Dimitrios Kaskaoutis

The relationship between the winter (DJFM) precipitation and the atmospheric circulation patterns is examined around Mount Olympus, Greece in order to assess the effects of orography and atmospheric dynamics over a small (less than 100 x 100 km) spatial domain. Winter accumulated rainfall datasets from 8 stations spread along the eastern (marine) and western (continental) sides of the Mount Olympus at elevations between 30 m and 1150 m are used during the period 1981 to 2000. Synoptic scale conditions of mean sea-level pressure and geopotential heights at 850 hPa and 500 hPa, were used to explain the multiyear rainfall variability. High pressure systems dominated over the central Mediterranean and most parts of central Europe during the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, are associated with minimum winter rainfall along both sides of Mount Olympus. The winter of 1996 was associated with peak in rainfall along the marine side of the mountain and was characterized by enhancement of upper level trough over the western Mediterranean and increased low tropospheric depressions over the southern Adriatic and the Ionian Seas. This atmospheric circulation pattern facilitated a southeasterly air flow that affected more (less) the marine (continental) sides of the mountain. In contrast, dominance of low pressure systems with cores over the Gulf of Genoa and the Central Mediterranean affect the study area mostly from west/southwest revealing higher correlations with the precipitation in the continental side of the mountain (r= -0.80; Elassona station) and considerably lower correlations with the marine side (r = -0.67; Katerini station). This highlights the orographic barrier of the Mount Olympus revealing large differences between the upward and leeward sides. Large scale atmospheric patterns like the North Atlantic Oscillation and the Arctic Oscillation seem to influence the winter rainfall in the lowlands along the continental side of the mountain.


2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (11) ◽  
pp. 4391-4401 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Seim ◽  
Johannes A. Schultz ◽  
Christoph Beck ◽  
Achim Bräuning ◽  
Paul J. Krusic ◽  
...  

Atmospheric circulations influence local and regional weather conditions and, thus, tree growth. To identify summer weather types relevant for tree growth, and their associated synoptic-scale circulation patterns, an atmospheric circulation tree ring index (ACTI) dataset, derived from 414 tree-ring sites across Asia spanning the period 1871–2010, was created. Modes of common variability in the ACTI dataset were compared with leading modes of observed summertime 500-hPa geopotential height. The first four ACTI modes (explaining 88% of the total variance) were associated with pressure centers over Eurasia, the tropics, and the Pacific Ocean. The high spatiotemporal resemblance between the leading circulation modes, derived from both tree rings and 500-hPa geopotential height fields, indicates a strong potential for reconstructing large-scale circulation patterns from tree rings in Asia. This would allow investigations of natural atmospheric circulation variability prior to anthropogenic climate change and provide a means to validate model simulations of climate predictions.


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luca Pozzoli ◽  
Srdan Dobricic ◽  
Simone Russo ◽  
Elisabetta Vignati

Abstract. Winter warming and sea ice retreat observed in the Arctic in the last decades determine changes of large scale atmospheric circulation pattern that may impact as well the transport of black carbon (BC) to the Arctic and its deposition on the sea ice, with possible feedbacks on the regional and global climate forcing. In this study we developed and applied a new statistical algorithm, based on the Maximum Likelihood Estimate approach, to determine how the changes of three large scale weather patterns (the North Atlantic Oscillation, the Scandinavian Blocking, and the El Nino-Southern Oscillation), associated with winter increasing temperatures and sea ice retreat in the Arctic, impact the transport of BC to the Arctic and its deposition. We found that the three atmospheric patterns together determine a decreasing winter deposition trend of BC between 1980 and 2015 in the Eastern Arctic while they increase BC deposition in the Western Arctic. The increasing trend is mainly due to the more frequent occurrences of stable high pressure systems (atmospheric blocking) near Scandinavia favouring the transport in the lower troposphere of BC from Europe and North Atlantic directly into to the Arctic. The North Atlantic Oscillation has a smaller impact on BC deposition in the Arctic, but determines an increasing BC atmospheric load over the entire Arctic Ocean with increasing BC concentrations in the upper troposphere. The El Nino-Southern Oscillation does not influence significantly the transport and deposition of BC to the Arctic. The results show that changes in atmospheric circulation due to polar atmospheric warming and reduced winter sea ice significantly impacted BC transport and deposition. The anthropogenic emission reductions applied in the last decades were, therefore, crucial to counterbalance the most likely trend of increasing BC pollution in the Arctic.


2005 ◽  
Vol 18 (19) ◽  
pp. 3968-3982 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. C. Raible ◽  
T. F. Stocker ◽  
M. Yoshimori ◽  
M. Renold ◽  
U. Beyerle ◽  
...  

Abstract The decadal trend behavior of the Northern Hemisphere atmospheric circulation is investigated utilizing long-term simulations with different state-of-the-art coupled general circulation models (GCMs) for present-day climate conditions (1990), reconstructions of the past 500 yr, and observations. The multimodel simulations show that strong positive winter North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) trends are connected with the underlying sea surface temperature (SST) and exhibit an SST tripole trend pattern and a northward shift of the storm-track tail. Strong negative winter trends of the Aleutian low are associated with SST changes in the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) region and a westward shift of the storm track in the North Pacific. The observed simultaneous appearance of strong positive NAO and negative Aleutian low trends is very unlikely to occur by chance in the unforced simulations and reconstructions. The positive winter NAO trend of the last 50 yr is not statistically different from the level of internal atmosphere–ocean variability. The unforced simulations also show a strong link between positive SST trends in the ENSO region and negative Aleutian low trends. With much larger observed SST trends in the ENSO region, this suggests that the observed negative Aleutian low trend is possibly influenced by external forcing, for example, global warming, volcanism, and/or solar activity change.


2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 2433-2450 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Merz ◽  
C. C. Raible ◽  
H. Fischer ◽  
V. Varma ◽  
M. Prange ◽  
...  

Abstract. Changes in Greenland accumulation and the stability in the relationship between accumulation variability and large-scale circulation are assessed by performing time-slice simulations for the present day, the preindustrial era, the early Holocene, and the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) with a comprehensive climate model. The stability issue is an important prerequisite for reconstructions of Northern Hemisphere atmospheric circulation variability based on accumulation or precipitation proxy records from Greenland ice cores. The analysis reveals that the relationship between accumulation variability and large-scale circulation undergoes a significant seasonal cycle. As the contributions of the individual seasons to the annual signal change, annual mean accumulation variability is not necessarily related to the same atmospheric circulation patterns during the different climate states. Interestingly, within a season, local Greenland accumulation variability is indeed linked to a consistent circulation pattern, which is observed for all studied climate periods, even for the LGM. Hence, it would be possible to deduce a reliable reconstruction of seasonal atmospheric variability (e.g., for North Atlantic winters) if an accumulation or precipitation proxy were available that resolves single seasons. We further show that the simulated impacts of orbital forcing and changes in the ice sheet topography on Greenland accumulation exhibit strong spatial differences, emphasizing that accumulation records from different ice core sites regarding both interannual and long-term (centennial to millennial) variability cannot be expected to look alike since they include a distinct local signature. The only uniform signal to external forcing is the strong decrease in Greenland accumulation during glacial (LGM) conditions and an increase associated with the recent rise in greenhouse gas concentrations.


Geografie ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 122 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dragan D. Milošević ◽  
Stevan M. Savić ◽  
Uglješa Stankov ◽  
Igor Žiberna ◽  
Milana M. Pantelić ◽  
...  

This paper examines temporal and spatial patterns of annual and seasonal maximum temperatures (Tmax) in Slovenia and their relationship with atmospheric circulation patterns. A significant increase in maximum temperature (Tmax; from 0.3°C to 0.5°C·decade-1) was observed throughout the country at the annual scale in the period 1963–2014. Significant positive trends are observed on all stations in summer (from 0.4°C to 0.7°C·decade-1) and spring (from 0.4°C to 0.6°C·decade-1). The results indicate significant correlations between the mean annual maximum temperature (Tmax) and the East Atlantic Oscillation (EA) (from 0.5 to 0.7), the Arctic Oscillation (AO) (from 0.4 to 0.7) and the Scandinavian Oscillation (SCAND) (from −0.3 to −0.4) throughout the country. A significant EA influence is observed in all seasons, while the AO influence is noticed in winter and spring, SCAND in spring and summer, the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and the Mediterranean Oscillation (MO) in winter, the East Atlantic/Western Russia Oscillation (EA/WR) in summer and the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in autumn.


2012 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 172-188 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monica Ionita ◽  
Gerrit Lohmann ◽  
Norel Rimbu ◽  
Silvia Chelcea

Abstract Interannual-to-decadal variability of Rhine River streamflow and their relationship with large-scale climate anomaly patterns for spring [March–May (MAM)] and autumn [September–November (SON)] are investigated through a statistical analysis of observed streamflow data and global climate anomaly fields. A wavelet analysis reveals that spring streamflow variability is nonstationary with enhanced variability in the 8–16-yr band from 1860 to 1900 and in the 2–8 and 16–30 yr after 1960. A composite analysis reveals that streamflow anomalies during spring are related to a sea surface temperature (SST) pattern that resembles the corresponding El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) SST pattern. The corresponding atmospheric circulation pattern favors enhanced moisture advection over the Rhine catchment area during positive streamflow anomalies. During autumn, the streamflow variability follows a distribution similar to spring streamflow, but with a strong peak in the 30–60-yr band. Autumn streamflow anomalies are significantly related only with the North Atlantic SST anomalies. The atmospheric circulation pattern associated with high streamflow during autumn, which is more regional than the corresponding spring pattern, shows a deep low pressure system over the British Isles and the northwestern part of Europe and a shift southward of the Atlantic jet axis. The orientation of the axis of the Atlantic and African jets, as well as the advection of the moist air from the ocean, plays a crucial role in the variability of Rhine streamflow both in spring and autumn.


Forests ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 674 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jian Yu ◽  
Sher Shah ◽  
Guang Zhou ◽  
Zhenzhao Xu ◽  
Qijing Liu

We developed two tree-ring width chronologies of Mongolian Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica) from the low elevation forest of the northern Daxing’anling Mountains of Inner Mongolia. Although the two chronologies come from different sampling sites, significant correlations existed among the chronologies (r = 0.318), and the first principal component (PC1) accounted for 65.9% of total variance over their common period 1792–2016. Climate-growth correlation analysis revealed that the previous June and July Palmer drought severity index (PDSIp6-7) was the main climatic factor controlling tree-ring growth. Using a linear regression model, we reconstructed the PDSIp6-7 for the past 225 years (1792–2016). The reconstruction satisfied required statistical calibration and validation tests, and represented 38.6% of the PDSI variance recorded by instruments over the period 1955–2016. Six wet and five dry periods were revealed during these 225 years. The drought of 1903–1927 was the most severe drought in the study area in the last 225 years. Comparison with other tree-ring-based moisture-sensitive sequences from nearby regions confirmed a high degree of confidence in our reconstruction. The results of a spatial climate correlation analysis with a gridded PDSI dataset revealed that our reconstructions contained strong regional drought signals for the southern Stanovoy Range and the northern Daxing’anling Mountains. The power spectrum revealed the existence of significant frequency cycles, which may be linked to large-scale atmospheric-oceanic variability, such as the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, solar activity, and the North Atlantic Oscillation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 162 (2) ◽  
pp. 741-759
Author(s):  
Gareth J. Marshall ◽  
Kirsti Jylhä ◽  
Sonja Kivinen ◽  
Mikko Laapas ◽  
Anita Verpe Dyrrdal

Abstract Extreme precipitation events (EPEs) have a major impact across Arctic Fennoscandia (AF). Here we examine the spatial variability of seasonal 50-year trends in three EPEs across AF for 1968–2017, using daily precipitation data from 46 meteorological stations, and analyse how these are related to contemporaneous changes in the principal atmospheric circulation patterns that impact AF climate. Positive trends in seasonal wet-day precipitation (PRCPTOT) are widespread across AF in all seasons except autumn. Spring (autumn) has the most widespread negative (positive) trends in consecutive dry days (CDD). There is less seasonal dependence for trends in consecutive wet days (CWDs), but the majority of the stations show an increase. Clear seasonal differences in the circulation pattern that exerted most influence on these AF EPE trends exist. In spring, PRCPTOT and CDD are most affected by the Scandinavian pattern at more than half the stations while it also has a marked influence on CWD. The East Atlantic/Western Russia pattern generally has the greatest influence on the most station EPE trends in summer and autumn, yet has no effect during either spring or winter. In winter, the dominant circulation pattern across AF varies more between the different EPEs, with the North Atlantic Oscillation, Polar/Eurasia and East Atlantic patterns all exerting a major influence. There are distinct geographical distributions to the dominant pattern affecting particular EPEs in some seasons, especially winter, while in others there is no discernible spatial relationship.


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