A ring-width-based reconstruction of June–July minimum temperatures since AD 1245 from white spruce stands in the Mackenzie Delta region, northwestern Canada

Bibliographic Data

ID24088809
AuthorsTrevor J Porter (0000-0002-5916-1998, University of Alberta, corresponding author), Michael Fj Pisaric (0000-0003-3806-8986, Brock University), Michael F J Pisaric, Steven V Kokelj (0000-0002-2840-2605, Aboriginal Affairs Northern Dev Canada), Peter deMontigny (Carleton University)
Year2013
Volume80
Issue2
Pages167-179
Publication date2013-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueQuaternary Research (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0033-5894 • E-ISSN: 1096-0287
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1016/j.yqres.2013.05.004
OpenAlexW1979315892
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited53

We present a reconstruction of June–July minimum temperatures since AD 1245 for the Mackenzie Delta region based on a 29-site network of white spruce ( Picea glauca ) ring-width series. Most but not all trees experienced a divergent temperature–growth response, similar to the divergence that has affected other white spruce trees across Yukon and Alaska. However, divergence in the study region began as early as AD 1900 and we have documented our methods to avoid including divergent signals in the reconstruction. Calibration/verification testing based on local temperature data, and multi-century coherence with nearby and large-scale temperature proxy records, confirm that our reconstruction is robust. The reconstruction shows cool conditions in the late 13th, early 18th and early 19th centuries, corresponding with solar minima and increased volcanism. These cool periods are interrupted by warm periods consistent with early to mid-20th century warmth. The late 20th century is the warmest interval, and the last decade is estimated to be 1.4°C warmer than any decade before the mid-20th century. The reconstructed climate history corroborates other proxy-based inferences and supports the notion that high-latitude regions such as the Mackenzie Delta have experienced rapid warming in recent decades that is exceptional in the last eight centuries.

Climate change · Climatology · Delta · Dendrochronology · Dendroclimatology · Geodesy · Geography · Latitude · Little ice age · Paleoclimatology · Physical geography · Proxy (statistics) · Geology · Geology and Paleoclimatology Research · Oceanography · Paleontology · Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics · Tree-ring climate responses