<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">Substantial effort has recently been put into the development of climate reconstructions from tree-ring stable carbon isotopes, though the interpretation of long-term trends retained in such timeseries remains challenging. Here we use detrended δ13C measurements in Pinus uncinata tree-rings, from the Spanish Pyrenees, to reconstruct decadal variations in summer temperature back to the 13th century. The June-August temperature signal of this reconstruction is attributed using decadally as well as annually resolved, 20th century δ13C data. Results indicate that late 20th century warming has not been unique within the context of the past 750 years. Our reconstruction contains greater am-plitude than previous reconstructions derived from traditional tree-ring density data, and describes particularly cool conditions during the late 19th century. Some of these differences, including early warm periods in the 14th and 17th centuries, have been retained via δ13C timeseries detrending - a novel approach in tree-ring stable isotope chronology development. The overall reduced variance in earlier studies points to an underestimation of pre-instrumental summer temperature variability de-rived from traditional tree-ring parameters. </abstract>

Substantial effort has recently been put into the development of climate reconstructions from tree-ring stable carbon isotopes, though the interpretation of long-term trends retained in such timeseries remains challenging. Here we use detrended δ13C measurements in Pinus uncinata tree-rings, from the Spanish Pyrenees, to reconstruct decadal variations in summer temperature back to the 13th century. The June-August temperature signal of this reconstruction is attributed using decadally as well as annually resolved, 20th century δ13C data. Results indicate that late 20th century warming has not been unique within the context of the past 750 years. Our reconstruction contains greater am-plitude than previous reconstructions derived from traditional tree-ring density data, and describes particularly cool conditions during the late 19th century. Some of these differences, including early warm periods in the 14th and 17th centuries, have been retained via δ13C timeseries detrending - a novel approach in tree-ring stable isotope chronology development. The overall reduced variance in earlier studies points to an underestimation of pre-instrumental summer temperature variability de-rived from traditional tree-ring parameters.

Long-term summer temperature variations in the Pyrenees from detrended stable carbon isotopes

Department of Geography, Johannes Gutenberg University, 55099 Mainz, Germany

Department of Physical Geography and Quaternary Geology, Stockholm University, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden

Paul Scherrer Institut, 5232 Villigen, Switzerland

Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland

Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland

Global Change Research Centre AS CR, v.v.i., Bělidla 86/4a, CZ-60300 Brno, Czech Republic

Geochronometria

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Substantial effort has recently been put into the development of climate reconstructions from tree-ring stable carbon isotopes, though the interpretation of...

Long-term summer temperature variations in the Pyrenees from detrended stable carbon isotopes

Pubblicato online: 27 mar 2015

Pagine: -

Ricevuto: 28 lug 2014

Accettato: 06 feb 2015

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/geochr-2015-0006

© 2015

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.