Journal Article

Five millennia of paleotemperature from tree-rings in the Great Basin, USA

Salzer, Matthew W., Graham, Nicholas E., Hughes, Malcolm K., Bunn, Andrew G.

2014

Overview

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.

• Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg,Springer,Springer Nature B.V
• Subject: Analysis / Bgi / Prodig / climate / Climate change / Climatic oscillations. Historical climates. Palaeoclimates / Climatology / Dendroclimatology / Earth and Environmental Science / Earth Sciences / Earth, ocean, space / Environmental aspects / Exact sciences and technology / General Circulation Models / Geophysics/Geodesy / growth rings / Holocene / Indicator organisms / Marine and continental quaternary / Oceanography / Paleoclimate science / Physical geography / Pine / Pinus longaeva / Studies / Surficial geology / temperature / Temperature distribution / Treeline / United States