Bioavailability and radiocarbon age of fluvial dissolved organic matter (DOM) from a northern peatland-dominated catchment: effect of land-use change

The radiocarbon age and biodegradability of dissolved organic matter (DOM) from a northern peat-dominated river system was studied and the effects of land-use were compared. Samples were obtained from streams and ditches comprising sub-catchments of the Kiiminki River, Northern Finland. Sample sites included areas of natural mire, areas subjected to moderate disturbance (ditching to enhance forestry), and areas subjected to serious land use change (agriculture and peat excavation). The study employed a 55 day bioassay that measured the biodegradation potential of surface-water DOM. We identified release of modern (mean 6–13 year old) DOM from natural sites, and material aged up to 1,553 years from disturbed sites. The proportion of biodegradable DOC ranged from 4.1 to 17.9 %, and bacterial DOC removal was modelled using twin-pool and reactivity-continuum (beta distribution) approaches. Bacterial growth efficiency ranged from 0.11 to 0.26 between areas of different land use, and these relatively low values reflect the humic-rich DOM released from boreal peatland. Despite the range of land-use types studied, including intensive peatland excavation areas, there was no detectable relationship between the biological lability of DOM and its radiocarbon age.     

Possible manifestation of nonlinear effects when solar activity affects climate changes

The response of the nonlinear oscillatory system to an insignificant external disturbance has been considered as applied to the effect of solar activity on climatic processes. Based on a simplified model, it has been indicated that the response of a nonlinear oscillator to a weak disturbing impact can be substantial. The oscillator fluctuation spectrum can decrease under the action of a disturbing factor. This means that the effect of an even weak solar or cosmophysical signal to the Earth’s climatic system can lead to significant climate variations if this system is nonlinear. However, it will be rather difficult to identify the solar—climatic nature of these variations because a linear relation between the cause and response is absent.     

Depositional history of peatland pines (Pinus sylvestris L.) in NW Enontekiö, Finnish Lapland: implications for Middle Holocene drought and temperature fluctuations

High altitude and latitude findings of subfossil peatland pine trees were unearthed from the region of NW Finnish Lapland and dated by ¹⁴C and tree-ring methods. The depositional history of the trees illustrated two distinct peatland pine phases dated to Middle Holocene intervals 4900–4400 and 4100–3400 cal. a BC. It seems evident that both thermal and hydroclimatic fluctuations have played roles of varying importance in the establishment of this pine population and its demise. The presence of these pines, from a site ~60 km north of the coniferous timberline and conditions ~1 °C and 100 degree-days colder than those at the present-day timberline, concurs with previous studies demonstrating the association between the high-latitude summer-temperature cooling and circumpolar timberline retreat since the Middle Holocene due to Milankovitch forcing. On the other hand, the peatland pine recruitment was made possible by drier than present surface conditions during the previously reconstructed Middle Holocene drought anomaly (Hyvärinen-Alhonen event). Our data suggest this event was not continuous but reached its two-phase climax during the peatland pine phases, with an interruption of several centuries with moister surface conditions between 4400 and 4100 cal. a BC. The findings highlight the sensitivity of well-dated peatland tree assemblages in terms of recording past climatic evolution and events and the need for new collections from north and south Fennoscandia and the Baltic region, for more detailed analyses over extended time intervals and regions.     

Recurrent transitions to Little Ice Age-like climatic regimes over the Holocene

Holocene climate variability is punctuated by episodic climatic events such as the Little Ice Age (LIA) predating the industrial-era warming. Their dating and forcing mechanisms have however remained controversial. Even more crucially, it is uncertain whether earlier events represent climatic regimes similar to the LIA. Here we produce and analyse a new 7500-year long palaeoclimate record tailored to detect LIA-like climatic regimes from northern European tree-ring data. In addition to the actual LIA, we identify LIA-like ca. 100–800 year periods with cold temperatures combined with clear sky conditions from 540 CE, 1670 BCE, 3240 BCE and 5450 BCE onwards, these LIA-like regimes covering 20% of the study period. Consistent with climate modelling, the LIA-like regimes originate from a coupled atmosphere–ocean–sea ice North Atlantic-Arctic system and were amplified by volcanic activity (multiple eruptions closely spaced in time), tree-ring evidence pointing to similarly enhanced LIA-like regimes starting after the eruptions recorded in 1627 BCE, 536/540 CE and 1809/1815 CE. Conversely, the ongoing decline in Arctic sea-ice extent is mirrored in our data which shows reversal of the LIA-like conditions since the late nineteenth century, our record also correlating highly with the instrumentally recorded Northern Hemisphere and global temperatures over the same period. Our results bridge the gaps between low- and high-resolution, precisely dated proxies and demonstrate the efficacy of slow and fast components of the climate system to generate LIA-like climate regimes.