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Temperature variability over the past millennium inferred from Northwestern Alaska tree rings

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Abstract

We describe a new tree-ring width data set of 14 white spruce chronologies for the Seward Peninsula (SP), Alaska, based on living and subfossil wood dating from 1358 to 2001 AD. A composite chronology derived from these data correlates positively and significantly with summer temperatures at Nome from 1910 to 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 978–2001 AD, 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.

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Acknowledgements

Funding was provided by the Paleoclimate and Earth System History programs of the National Science Foundation (ATM-02-02898 and ATM-02-11583, respectively); the NOAA Climate Change and Detection (C2D2) program (NA16GP2677), and the Department of Energy (UCD-W/GEC 02-008). This project was also supported by the Inter-American Institute (IAI). We thank Ed Cook, Lisa Graumlich, Glenn Juday, Paul Krusic, Andrea Lloyd, Phil Pryzmont, Nick Rayner, Wendy Wagner, Steve Worley and the International Tree-Ring Data Bank (ITRDB) for data, assistance and fruitful discussions. We gratefully acknowledge the Bureau of Land Management. Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory Contribution No. 6716.

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Correspondence to Rosanne D’Arrigo.

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D’Arrigo, R., Mashig, E., Frank, D. et al. Temperature variability over the past millennium inferred from Northwestern Alaska tree rings. Clim Dyn 24, 227–236 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-004-0502-1

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