IAI-ScientificArticles-CRN_003_Darrigo_SEWRW: Temperature Variability over the Past Millennium Inferred from Northwestern Alaska Tree Rings

This metadata references the scientific article: "Temperature Variability over
the Past Millennium Inferred from Northwestern Alaska Tree Rings", which can be
download from here. Authors: *Rosanne DArrigo(1), Erika Mashig(1), David
Frank(2), Rob Wilson(3) and Gordon Jacoby(1) (1)Tree-Ring Laboratory,
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (2)WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland (3)School of
Geosciences, Grant Institute, University of Edinburgh *Author to whom all
correspondence should be addressed. Tree-Ring Laboratory, Lamont-Doherty Earth
Observatory Route 9W, Palisades NY 10964 USA TEL [phone]; FAX [phone]
email [e-mail] We describe a new tree-ring width data set of
fourteen white spruce chronologies for the Seward Peninsula (SP), Alaska based
on living and subfossil wood dating from AD 1358-2001. A composite chronology
derived from these data correlates positively and significantly with summer
temperatures at Nome from 1910-1970, after which there is some loss of positive
temperature response. There is inferred cooling during periods within the
Little Ice Age (LIA) from the early to middle 1600s and late 1700s to middle
1800s; and warming from the middle 1600s to early 1700s. We also present a
larger composite data set covering AD 978-2001, utilizing the SP ring width
data in combination with archaeological wood measurements and other recent
collections from northwestern Alaska. The Regional Curve Standardization (RCS)
method was employed to maximize potential low-frequency information in this
data-set. The RCS chronology shows intervals of persistent above-average growth
around the time of the "Medieval Warm Period" (MWP) early in the millennium,
which are comparable to growth levels in recent centuries. There is a more
sustained cold interval during the LIA inferred from the RCS record as compared
to the SP ring width series. The chronologies correlate significantly with
Bering and Chukchi Sea sea surface temperatures and with the Pacific Decadal
Oscillation index. These atmosphere-ocean linkages probably account for the
differences between these records and large-scale reconstructions of Arctic and
Northern Hemisphere temperatures based largely on continental interior proxy
data. Key Words: Tree Rings, Dendrochronology, Seward Peninsula, Alaska, North
Pacific, PDO CRN003, PI Dr. Brian Luckman.