A 1500-year reconstruction of annual mean temperature for temperate North America on decadal-to-multidecadal time scales
We present two reconstructions of annual average temperature over temperate North America: a tree-ring based reconstruction at decadal resolution (1200–1980 CE) and a pollen-based reconstruction at 30 year resolution that extends back to 480 CE. We maximized reconstruction length by using long but l...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2013-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/8/2/024008 |
| _version_ | 1797748396043272192 |
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| author | V Trouet H F Diaz E R Wahl A E Viau R Graham N Graham E R Cook |
| author_facet | V Trouet H F Diaz E R Wahl A E Viau R Graham N Graham E R Cook |
| author_sort | V Trouet |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | We present two reconstructions of annual average temperature over temperate North America: a tree-ring based reconstruction at decadal resolution (1200–1980 CE) and a pollen-based reconstruction at 30 year resolution that extends back to 480 CE. We maximized reconstruction length by using long but low-resolution pollen records and applied a three-tier calibration scheme for this purpose. The tree-ring-based reconstruction was calibrated against instrumental annual average temperatures on annual and decadal scale, it was then reduced to a lower resolution, and was used as a calibration target for the pollen-based reconstruction. Before the late-19th to the early-21st century, there are three prominent low-frequency periods in our extended reconstruction starting at 480 CE, notably the Dark Ages cool period (about 500–700 CE) and Little Ice Age (about 1200–1900 CE), and the warmer medieval climate anomaly (MCA; about 750–1100 CE). The 9th and the 11th century are the warmest centuries and they constitute the core of the MCA in our reconstruction, a period characterized by centennial-scale aridity in the North American West. These two warm peaks are slightly warmer than the baseline period (1904–1980), but nevertheless much cooler than temperate North American temperatures during the early-21st century. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:05:07Z |
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| id | doaj.art-f538d081df8043218ed436e34d32e5c4 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:05:07Z |
| publishDate | 2013-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
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| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-f538d081df8043218ed436e34d32e5c42023-08-09T14:26:12ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262013-01-018202400810.1088/1748-9326/8/2/024008A 1500-year reconstruction of annual mean temperature for temperate North America on decadal-to-multidecadal time scalesV Trouet0H F Diaz1E R Wahl2A E Viau3R Graham4N Graham5E R Cook6University of Arizona, LTRR , Tucson, AZ 85721-0058, USANOAA/CIRES/PSD1 , 325 Broadway, Boulder, CO 80305, USANOAA/NCDC/Paleoclimatology , 325 Broadway, Boulder, CO 80305, USAUniversity of Ottawa, LPC , Ottawa, ON, K1N 6N5, CanadaHydrologic Research Center , San Diego, CA 92130, USAHydrologic Research Center , San Diego, CA 92130, USATree Ring Lab, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory , Palisades, NY 10964-8000, USAWe present two reconstructions of annual average temperature over temperate North America: a tree-ring based reconstruction at decadal resolution (1200–1980 CE) and a pollen-based reconstruction at 30 year resolution that extends back to 480 CE. We maximized reconstruction length by using long but low-resolution pollen records and applied a three-tier calibration scheme for this purpose. The tree-ring-based reconstruction was calibrated against instrumental annual average temperatures on annual and decadal scale, it was then reduced to a lower resolution, and was used as a calibration target for the pollen-based reconstruction. Before the late-19th to the early-21st century, there are three prominent low-frequency periods in our extended reconstruction starting at 480 CE, notably the Dark Ages cool period (about 500–700 CE) and Little Ice Age (about 1200–1900 CE), and the warmer medieval climate anomaly (MCA; about 750–1100 CE). The 9th and the 11th century are the warmest centuries and they constitute the core of the MCA in our reconstruction, a period characterized by centennial-scale aridity in the North American West. These two warm peaks are slightly warmer than the baseline period (1904–1980), but nevertheless much cooler than temperate North American temperatures during the early-21st century.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/8/2/024008temperaturetree ringpollenNorth Americamedieval climate anomalyLittle Ice Age |
| spellingShingle | V Trouet H F Diaz E R Wahl A E Viau R Graham N Graham E R Cook A 1500-year reconstruction of annual mean temperature for temperate North America on decadal-to-multidecadal time scales Environmental Research Letters temperature tree ring pollen North America medieval climate anomaly Little Ice Age |
| title | A 1500-year reconstruction of annual mean temperature for temperate North America on decadal-to-multidecadal time scales |
| title_full | A 1500-year reconstruction of annual mean temperature for temperate North America on decadal-to-multidecadal time scales |
| title_fullStr | A 1500-year reconstruction of annual mean temperature for temperate North America on decadal-to-multidecadal time scales |
| title_full_unstemmed | A 1500-year reconstruction of annual mean temperature for temperate North America on decadal-to-multidecadal time scales |
| title_short | A 1500-year reconstruction of annual mean temperature for temperate North America on decadal-to-multidecadal time scales |
| title_sort | 1500 year reconstruction of annual mean temperature for temperate north america on decadal to multidecadal time scales |
| topic | temperature tree ring pollen North America medieval climate anomaly Little Ice Age |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/8/2/024008 |
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