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

• Published in: Climate dynamics Vol. 42; no. 5-6; pp. 1517 - 1526
• Main Authors: Salzer, Matthew W., Bunn, Andrew G., Graham, Nicholas E., Hughes, Malcolm K.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.03.2014; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Analysis; Bgi / Prodig; Climate change; Climatic oscillations. Historical climates. Palaeoclimates; Climatology; Dendroclimatology; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Environmental aspects; Exact sciences and technology; Geophysics/Geodesy; Holocene; Indicator organisms; Marine and continental quaternary; Oceanography; Paleoclimate science; Physical geography; Pine; Studies; Surficial geology; Temperature distribution; Treeline; Basin and Range Province; United States; Great Basin; Western United States; United States of America; California; United States > US; USA, Great Basin; USA; Dendroclimatology; Paleotemperature; Tree-Rings; Bristlecone Pine; Holocene; Treeline; gymnosperms; Quaternary; paleotemperature; paleoclimatology; Plantae; upper Quaternary; North America; volcanism; Proxy; Tree ring; Atmospheric temperature; Coniferales; Spermatophyta; Forcing; Cenozoic; Phanerozoic; Dendrology; Climatic variability; Temperature; Volcanic eruption; Pine; Climate reconstruction; Climatic variation
• ISSN: 0930-7575; 1432-0894
• DOI: 10.1007/s00382-013-1911-9

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.