Tree-Ring-Based Spring Temperature Patterns over the Past Four Centuries in Western Himalaya

A network of 12 tree-ring width chronologies of Himalayan cedar (Cedrus deodara) from the western Himalayan region, India, has been used to reconstruct mean spring (March–May) temperature variations back to A.D. 1600. The most conspicuous feature of the temperature reconstruction is the long-term cooling trend since the late 17th century that ended early in the 20th century. The warmest 30-yr mean for the 20th century was recorded during 1945–1974. However, this warming, in the context of the past four centuries is well within the range of natural variability, since warmer springs of greater magnitude occurred in the later part of the 17th century (1662–1691).     

Extending the Place Glacier mass-balance record to AD 1585, using tree rings and wood density

Recognizing that climate influences both annual tree-ring growth and glacier mass balance, changes in the mass balance of Place Glacier, British Columbia, were documented from increment core records. Annually resolved ring-width (RW), maximum (MXD), and mean density (MD) chronologies were developed from Engelmann spruce and Douglas-fir trees sampled at sites within the surrounding region. A snowpack record dating to AD 1730 was reconstructed using a multivariate regression of spruce MD and fir RW chronologies. Spruce MXD and RW chronologies were used to reconstruct winter mass balance (Bw) for Place Glacier to AD 1585. Summer mass balance (Bs) was reconstructed using the RW chronology from spruce, and net balance was calculated from Bw and Bs. The reconstructions provide insight into the changes that snowpack and mass balance have undergone in the last 400 years, as well as identifying relationships to air temperature and circulation indices in southern British Columbia. These changes are consistent with other regional mass-balance reconstructions and indicate that the persistent weather systems characterizing large scale climate-forcing mechanisms play a significant glaciological role in this region. A comparison to dated moraine surfaces in the surrounding region substantiates that the mass-balance shifts recorded in the proxy data are evident in the response of glaciers throughout the region.     

Long-Term Temperature Trends and Tree Growth in the Taymir Region of Northern Siberia

The northernmost conifers in the world are located well above the Arctic Circle in the Taymir region of northern Siberia and have been recording the thermal environment for centuries to millennia. The trees respond to temperatures beyond the narrow season of actual cambial cell division by means of root growth, photosynthesis, lignification of cell walls, and other biochemical processes. Data from annual tree-ring widths are used to reconstruct May–September mean temperatures for the past four centuries. These warm-season temperatures correlate with annual temperatures and indicate unusual warming in the 20th century. However, there is a loss of thermal response in ring widths since about 1970. Previously the warmer temperatures induced wider rings. Most major warming and cooling trends are in agreement with other high-latitude temperature reconstructions based on tree-ring analyses with some regional differences in timing of cooling in the late 18th century and of warming in the late 19th century.     

Climatic fluctuation in the Czech Lands during the last millennium

On the basis of documentary evidence, proxy-data and instrumental observations, the climatic fluctuation during the last millennium in the Czech Lands is analysed. According to narrative sources, the warmest period falls between the 1260s–1380s, documents for Lamb's (1984) Medieval Warm Epoch in 1150–1300 are missing. The prevalence of extremely cold and also rainy periods, as an expression of the Little Ice Age, is most conspicuous in the 15th century, in the 1590s and, with three interruptions, between the 1730s–1850s. Since the latter half of the 19th century a rising temperature trend has manifested itself. A regional climatic scenario for the model of global warming is discussed in relation to the observed trends in the Czech Lands.     

四川稻城海子山方枝柏树轮宽度与气候因子的响应关系研究

对四川稻城县海子山高原上的方枝柏进行树芯采集,经交叉定年后建立林线上限位置的方枝柏树轮宽度年表。标准化年表与气象资料的响应分析结果揭示了该地区树木生长主要受当年生长季前期温度条件的控制。轮宽指数与前一年9月到当年2月的平均气温呈显著正相关（R=0.56,P<0.01）。由此重建了该地区1850—2019年这170 a的前一年9月到当年2月平均气温的变化,转换函数方差解释量31.7%。重建结果与邻近地区树轮记录的温度变化具有较好的一致性。重建序列显示工业革命以来,研究区经历较冷的时期有：1870—1890年和1960—1980年;较暖的时期有：1884—1892年、1919—1925年、1940—1960年以及1980—2019年。1940—1960年是20世纪最暖的时期,20世纪60年代后温度呈现下降趋势,1980年开始气温保持持续升高,2010年之后气温有小幅下降。重建气温序列与太阳黑子数变化和北大西洋多年代际涛动AMO有较强的响应,揭示了太阳活动、海温等因子可能对该区温度变化产生重要影响。     

Regional tree growth and inferred summer climate in the Winnipeg River basin, Canada, since AD 1783

A network of 54 ring-width chronologies is used to estimate changes in summer climate within the Winnipeg River basin, Canada, since AD 1783. The basin drains parts of northwestern Ontario, northern Minnesota and southeastern Manitoba, and is a key area for hydroelectric power production. Most chronologies were developed from Pinus resinosa and P. strobus, with a limited number of Thuja occidentalis, Picea glauca and Pinus banksiana. The dominant pattern of regional tree growth can be recovered using only the nine longest chronologies, and is not affected by the method used to remove variability related to age or stand dynamics from individual trees. Tree growth is significantly, but weakly, correlated with both temperature (negatively) and precipitation (positively) during summer. Simulated ring-width chronologies produced by a process model of tree-ring growth exhibit similar relationships with summer climate. High and low growth across the region is associated with cool/wet and warm/dry summers, respectively; this relationship is supported by comparisons with archival records from early 19th century fur-trading posts. The tree-ring record indicates that summer droughts were more persistent in the 19th and late 18th century, but there is no evidence that drought was more extreme prior to the onset of direct monitoring.     

Late Holocene temperature fluctuations on the Tibetan Plateau

Proxy data of palaeoclimate, like ice cores, tree rings and lake sediments, document aspects of climate changes on the Tibetan Plateau during the last 2000 years. The results show that the Tibetan Plateau experienced climatic episodes such as the warm intervals during AD 800–1100 and 1150–1400, the “Little Ice Age” between AD 1400 and 1900, and an earlier cold period between the 4th and 6th centuries. In addition, temperatures varied from region to region across the plateau. A warm period from AD 800 to 1100 in the northeastern Tibetan Plateau was contemporaneous with cooling in the southern Tibetan Plateau, which experienced warming between AD 1150 and 1400. Large-scale trends in the temperature history from the northeastern Tibetan Plateau resemble those in eastern China more than the trends from the southern Plateau. The most notable similarities between the temperature variations of the Tibetan Plateau and eastern China are cold phases during AD 1100–1150, 1500–1550, 1650–1700 and 1800–1850.     

A one hundred and seventeen year coastal water temperature record from Woods Hole,Massachusetts

We have compiled what we believe is the longest coherent coastal sea surface temperature record in North America. Near-surface water temperature measurements have been made almost daily at Great Harbon, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, since 1886 with remarkably few gaps. The record shows that there was no significant trend in water temperature at this site for the first 60 yr of observation. There was some cooling during the 1960s that was followed by a significant warming from 1970–2002 at a rate of 0.04°C yr^?1. During the 1990s annual mean temperatures averaged approximately 1.2°C warmer than they had been on average between 1890 and 1970; winter (December, January, and February) temperatures were 1.7°C warmer and summer (June, July, and August) temperatures were 1.0°C warmer. There has not been a statistically significant decrease in the annual number of winter days below 1°C or an increase in the annual number of winter days above 5°C. The number of summer days each year with water temperature above 21°C has not increased significantly. The dates of first observations of 10°C and 20°C water in the spring have not changed sufficiently to be statistically significant. There is a weak positive correlation between annual and winter water temperature and the annual and winter North Atlantic Oscillation index, respectively, during the period of record.     

Weakening climatic signal since mid-20th century in European larch tree-ring chronologies at different altitudes from the Adamello-Presanella Massif (Italian Alps)

Tree rings from temperature-limited environments are highly sensitive climate proxies, widely used to reconstruct past climate parameters for periods prior to the availability of instrumental data and to analyse the effect of recent global warming on tree growth. An analysis of the climatic signal in five high-elevation tree-ring width chronologies of European larch (Larix decidua Mill.) from the tops of five different glacial valleys in the Italian Central Alps revealed that they contain a strong summer-temperature signal and that tree-ring growth is especially influenced by June temperatures. However, a moving correlation function analysis revealed a recent loss of the June temperature signal in the tree-ring chronologies. This signal reduction primarily involves the two lowest-altitude chronologies. It is probable that the observed increasing importance of late-summer temperature for tree-ring growth over the past 50 yr is an effect of the lengthening growing season and of the variations in the climate/tree-ring relationship over time. All the chronologies considered, especially those at the highest altitudes, show an increasing negative influence of June precipitation on tree-ring growth. The climatic signal recorded in tree-ring chronologies from the Italian Central Alps varies over time and is also differentially influenced by climatic parameters according to site elevation.     

Holocene glacier fluctuations in Alaska

This review summarizes forefield and lacustrine records of glacier fluctuations in Alaska during the Holocene. Following retreat from latest Pleistocene advances, valley glaciers with land-based termini were in retracted positions during the early to middle Holocene. Neoglaciation began in some areas by 4.0 ka and major advances were underway by 3.0 ka, with perhaps two distinct early Neoglacial expansions centered respectively on 3.3–2.9 and 2.2–2.0 ka. Tree-ring cross-dates of glacially killed trees at two termini in southern Alaska show a major advance in the AD 550s–720s. The subsequent Little Ice Age (LIA) expansion was underway in the AD 1180s–1320s and culminated with two advance phases respectively in the 1540s–1710s and in the 1810s–1880s. The LIA advance was the largest Holocene expansion in southern Alaska, although older late Holocene moraines are preserved on many forefields in northern and interior Alaska.Tidewater glaciers around the rim of the Gulf of Alaska have made major advances throughout the Holocene. Expansions were often asynchronous with neighboring termini and spanned both warm and cool intervals, suggesting that non-climatic factors were important in forcing these advances. However, climatic warming appears to have initiated most rapid iceberg-calving retreats. Large glaciers terminating on the forelands around the Gulf of Alaska may have had tidewater termini early in the Holocene, but have progressively become isolated from the adjacent ocean by the accumulation and subaerial exposure of their own sediments.     

Evidence of recent changes in global snow and ice cover

Data on recent variations in the seasonal extent of snow cover and sea ice, of the terminal position and volume of alpine glaciers, and of ground temperature profiles in permafrost areas are reviewed. The extent of seasonal snow cover and of sea ice has fluctuated irregularly over the last 15–20 years. There is no apparent response to global warming trends. In contrast, most glaciers retreated and thinned from the late 19th century until the 1960s and Alaskan permafrost temperatures have risen 2°–4° C per century. Recently, some glacier advances have been noted.     

Variations in temperature and extent of Atlantic Water in the northern North Atlantic during the Holocene

We compare six high-resolution Holocene, sediment cores along a S–N transect on the Norwegian–Svalbard continental margin from ca 60°N to 77.4°N, northern North Atlantic. Planktonic foraminifera in the cores were investigated to show the changes in upper surface and subsurface water mass distribution and properties, including summer sea-surface temperatures (SST). The cores are located below the axis of the Norwegian Current and the West Spitsbergen Current, which today transport warm Atlantic Water to the Arctic. Sediment accumulation rates are generally high at all the core sites, allowing for a temporal resolution of 10–10² years. SST is reconstructed using different types of transfer functions, resulting in very similar SST trends, with deviations of no more than ±1.0/1.5 °C. A transfer function based on the maximum likelihood statistical approach is found to be most relevant. The reconstruction documents an abrupt change in planktonic foraminiferal faunal composition and an associated warming at the Younger Dryas–Preboreal transition. The earliest part of the Holocene was characterized by large temperature variability, including the Preboreal Oscillations and the 8.2 k event. In general, the early Holocene was characterized by SSTs similar to those of today in the south and warmer than today in the north, and a smaller S–N temperature gradient (0.23 °C/°N) compared to the present temperature gradient (0.46 °C/°N). The southern proxy records (60–69°N) were more strongly influenced by slightly cooler subsurface water probably due to the seasonality of the orbital forcing and increased stratification due to freshening. The northern records (72–77.4°N) display a millennial-scale change associated with reduced insolation and a gradual weakening of the North Atlantic thermohaline circulation (THC). The observed northwards amplification of the early Holocene warming is comparable to the pattern of recent global warming and future climate modelling, which predicts greater warming at higher latitudes. The overall trend during mid and late Holocene was a cooling in the north, stable or weak warming in the south, and a maximum S–N SST gradient of ca 0.7 °C/°N at 5000 cal. years BP. Superimposed on this trend were several abrupt temperature shifts. Four of these shifts, dated to 9000–8000, 5500–3000 and 1000 and 400 cal. years BP, appear to be global, as they correlate with periods of global climate change. In general, there is a good correlation between the northern North Atlantic temperature records and climate records from Norway and Svalbard.     

山西芦芽山地区树木年轮记录的1676 AD以来5～7月温度变化

在山西芦芽山地区采取了符合国际树轮库要求的油松样本,通过交叉定年和应用区域生长模型,建立长度为328 a的标准宽度年表.根据RCS序列所揭示的气候低频变化特征,确定1676 AD以来夏季温度可划分为两个时段:1676—1865 AD和1866—2003 AD.在1676—1865 AD时期,夏季温度变化主要表现为“冷强暖弱”,其中1710—1720s为最冷时段.1866—2003 AD时期,夏季温度呈现出“总体持续变暖,冷暖交替频繁”的变化特征.     

大兴安岭北部多年冻土区落叶松和樟子松生长的气候响应差异研究

以大兴安岭北部根河、呼中和汗马冻土区落叶松和樟子松为样本,建立了五个树轮宽度年表,并计算获取了五个样点的树轮截面积指数（BAI）序列。树轮BAI-气候响应关系分析表明,气温为这一地区落叶松和樟子松生长的主要限制因子;但落叶松和樟子松对气候变化的响应存在差异。落叶松BAI与3月平均气温,樟子松BAI与前一年12月至当年4月平均气温均呈显著负相关。考虑到水热综合影响,落叶松BAI控制因子由1957-1990年与其呈显著正相关的1月份SPEI转变为1991-2013年与其呈显著正相关的1-4月SPEI和与其呈显著负相关的3月份平均气温;樟子松BAI控制因子则由1957-1990年与其呈显著负相关的2月和8月份平均气温转变为1991-2013年与其呈显著正相关的7月份降水量和6-7月SPEI。结果表明,在全球变暖背景下,水热环境改变使得冻土区树木生长限制因子发生变化。     

Temperature variations recorded in Pinus tabulaeformis tree rings from the southern and northern slopes of the central Qinling Mountains, central China

The Qinling Mountain range constitutes a critical boundary for climate and vegetation distribution in eastern central mainland China owing to its importance as a geographic demarcation line. In this article, cores from 88 Chinese pines ( Pinus tabulaeformis ) from the southern (MW site) and northern (NWT site) slopes of the Qinling Mountains were used to reconstruct seasonal temperature variations. During the calibration period, significant correlations were found between ring width and the mean temperature from prior September to current April of 0.76 at the southern slope, and between ring width and the mean May–July temperature of 0.67 at the northern slope. The subsequent temperature reconstructions span 1760–2005 for the northern site and 1837–2006 for the southern site. Prior to the mid-20th century, low September–April temperatures were, in general, followed by high May–July temperatures, probably reflecting variations in the winter and summer monsoon. However, since the mid-20th century, both records show trends of a more pronounced increase in September–April temperature on the southern slope. The results provide independent support for the interpretation that recent warming is unusual in nature, coinciding with the observed record. The results compare well with tree-ring based reconstructions from the surrounding regions, suggesting regional signals in the Qinling Mountain reconstructions.     

Consistent long-term Holocene warming trend at different elevations in the Altai Mountains in arid central Asia

Recent results indicate contrasting Holocene moisture histories at different elevations in arid central Asia (ACA). However, relatively little is known about Holocene temperature changes at different elevations. Here we report an independently dated peat brGDGTs-based MBT'_5ME record from the Narenxia peatland (NRX) in the southern Altai Mountains. The record suggests a long-term warming trend since ~7.7 cal. kyr bp , with a warmer stage during ~7–5.5 cal. kyr bp , a cold stage during ~5.5–4 cal. kyr bp , and a warming trend over the last ~4 kyr. The long-term warming trend indicated by the NRX MBT'_5ME record is largely consistent with Holocene temperature records from nearby sites covering an altitudinal range of ~1700–4100 m above sea level. This consistent long-term warming trend at different elevations differs from the long-term Holocene drying/wetting trends at high/low elevations of the Altai Mountains. We propose that the warming trend and consequent permafrost thawing at high elevations could have resulted in increased meltwater runoff, which would have contributed to the long-term wetting trend at low elevations. Our findings potentially provide an improved understanding of regional climate change and associated water resource availability, with implications for their possible future status.     

Correlation of Alaskan varve thickness with climatic parameters, and use in paleoclimatic reconstruction

The thickness of varves in the sediments of Skilak Lake, Alaska, are correlated with the mean annual temperature (r = 0.574), inversely correlated with the mean annual cumulative snowfall (r = −0.794), and not correlated with the mean annual precipitation (r = 0.202) of the southern Alaska climatological division for the years 1907–1934 A.D. Varve thickness in Skilak Lake is sensitive to annual temperature and snowfall because Skilak Glacier, the dominant source of sediment for Skilak Lake, is sensitive to these climatic parameters. Trends of varve thickness are well correlated with trends of mean annual cumulative snowfall ( ) of the southern Alaska climatological division and with trends of mean annual temperature of the southern ( ) and northern ( ) Alaska climatological divisions. Trends of varve thickness also correlate with trends of annual temperature in Seattle and North Head, Washington ( , respectively). Comparisons of trends of varve thickness with trends of annual temperature in California, Oregon, and Washington suggest no widespread regional correlation. Trends of annual snowfall in the southern Alaska climatological division and trends of annual temperature in the southern and northern Alaska climatological divisions are reconstructed for the years 1700–1906 A.D. Climatic reconstructions on the basis of varve thickness in Skilak Lake utilize equations derived from the regression of series of smoothed climatological data on series of smoothed varve thickness. Reconstruction of trends of mean annual cunulative snowfall in the southern Alaska climatological division suggests that snowfall during the 1700s and 1800s was much greater than that during the early and mid-1900s. The periods 1770–1790 and 1890–1906 show marked decreases in the mean annual snowfall. Reconstructed trends of the annual temperature of the northern and southern Alaska climatological divisions suggest that annual temperatures during the 1700s and 1800s were lower than those of the early and mid-1900s. Two periods of relatively high annual temperatures coincide with the periods of low annual snowfall thus determined.     

利用树轮资料重建长白山区过去气候变化

本文以树轮气候学中常用的树轮宽指数资料作为过去气候的代用资料，重建了长白山区1655年以来1～4月月平均最高气温的变化。重建中的校准方程稳定性较好，并可解释重建变量方差的57．4％。在1833年以来重建可靠性较高的时段中，1974～1979年为低温期，1951～1963年为高温期。而结束于1861和结束于1897年的两个高温期持续时间最长。本文的研究结果展示了利用树轮资料重建我国长白山区过去气候变化的巨大潜力。     

Nomenclature and resolution in Holocene glacial chronologies

Most Quaternary research in Canada during the first half of the twentieth century focused on Pleistocene glaciation. Given the dramatic shifts in climate during the Pleistocene, it is not surprising that the Holocene was viewed as a time of benign climate. Holocene climate variability was first recognized around the middle of the century when paleoecologists found evidence that the early part of the epoch was warmer and drier than the later part. In 1970s and 1980s, another generation of geologists, geographers, and botanists began to recognize more complexity in Holocene climate and vegetation in western Canada. Several millennial-scale glacier “advances” postdating the early Holocene warm interval were defined, including the Garibaldi Phase (6.9–5.6 ka), the Tiedemann–Peyto Advance (3.5–1.9 ka), and the Little Ice Age (AD 1200–1900). Subsequently, application of dendrochronological techniques and stratigraphic studies in glacier forefields showed that the Little Ice Age was itself more complex than previously thought. During that 700-year period, glaciers repeatedly advanced and retreated in response to climatic variability on time scales ranging from centuries to decades. Recent work shows that the glacier record of the Garibaldi Phase and the Tiedemann and Peyto advances are similar in complexity to the Little Ice Age, with multiple advances of glaciers separated by intervals of more restricted ice cover. Researchers have also identified other times in the Holocene when glaciers expanded from restricted positions – 8.20, 4.90–3.80, and 1.70–1.40 ka. Continued research undoubtedly will reveal additional complexities, but with what is currently known the appropriateness of terms such as “Tiedemann Advance,” “Peyto Advance,” and “Little Ice Age” can be questioned. Only short periods of time separate these episodes as currently defined, and it seems likely that intervals of restricted glacier cover within each of these millennial-length intervals are just as long as the intervals separating them.     

People and environment in the Russian far east from Paleolithic to Middle Ages: Chronology,palaeogeography, interaction

The Late Paleolithic sites existed in cold and dry climat (Ustinovka I, 10–25 ky ago; Ust-Ulma, 19, 360 ± 65 BP) with warmer stages (Suvorovo IV, 15,300 ± 140 BP) and on the Pleistocene/Holocene transition, near 10,000 BP (Suvorovo III). The Final Paleolithic sites existed in Late Glacial time, 10,000–12,000 BP (Gorbatka III, lower level) and in Boreal period, 8,000–9,000 BP (Ilistaya I, 7, 840 ± 60 BP; Timofeevka I). The Developed Neolithic sites existed during the warm and humid Middle-Late Atlantic period, 6,000–8,000 BP; the Late Neolithic sites — 3,000–5,000 BP. The human impact in the Paleolithic-Neolithic was restricted to burning and trampling the vegetation near the sites; the bases of paleoeconomy were hunting, fishing, gathering. The presence of pastoral anthropogenic indicators in pollen spectra of the Neolithic sites may reflect the beginning of cattle breeding.The Bronze Age (end of the 4th-2nd millenia BC) provides the first reliable evidence of cultivated plants (foxtail and Japanese millet) and domestic animals (pig, dog). In the paleoeconomy agriculture and cattle breeding appeared; the first stage of human impact increased (4,000–4,500 BP, ie 2550–3230 cal. BC) is reflected in pollen spectra from cultural layers. From the Early Iron Age to the Middle Ages (end of 2nd millenium BC-13th century AD) agriculture and cattle breeding were the base of paleoeconomy. From the 8th to the 10th centures AD, due to the development of ploughing (arable), the human impact intensified.Paper was presented on the 27th International Geographical Congress, Washington, DC, USA, August 9–14, 1992 (section Human Induced Environmental Change, the Ancient Past)