Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2014

Keywords

Bristlecone Pine, Treeline, Tree-Rings, Paleotemperature

Abstract

The instrumental temperature record is of insufficient length to fully express the natural variability of past temperature. High elevation tree-ring widths from Great Basin bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva) are a particularly useful proxy to infer temperatures prior to the instrumental record in that the tree-rings are annually dated and extend for millennia. From ring-width measurements integrated with past treeline elevation data we infer decadal- to millennial-scale temperature variability over the past 4,500 years for the Great Basin, USA. We find that twentieth century treeline advances are greater than in at least 4,000 years. There is also evidence for substantial volcanic forcing of climate in the preindustrial record and considerable covariation between high elevation tree-ring widths and temperature estimates from an atmosphere– ocean general circulation model over much of the last millennium. A long-term temperature decline of ~-1.1 °C since the mid-Holocene underlies substantial volcanic forcing of climate in the preindustrial record.

Publication Title

Climate Dynamics

Volume

42

Issue

5

First Page

1517

Last Page

1526

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-013-1911-9

Required Publisher's Statement

© The Author(s) 2013. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com

DOI: 10.1007/s00382-013-1911-9

Comments

Received: 6 November 2012 / Accepted: 8 August 2013 / Published online: 21 August 2013

Subjects - Topical (LCSH)

Great Basin bristlecone pine--Climatic factors--Great Basin; Dendrochronology--Great Basin; Timberline--Great Basin; Paleoclimatology--Great Basin; Paleoclimatology--Holocene

Geographic Coverage

Great Basin

Genre/Form

articles

Type

Text

Language

English

Format

application/pdf

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