Hostname: page-component-7bb8b95d7b-s9k8s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-09-06T07:13:33.371Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Summer Temperature Patterns over Europe: A Reconstruction from 1750 A.D. Based on Maximum Latewood Density Indices of Conifers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Keith R. Briffa ,
Philip D. Jones  and
Fritz H. Schweingruber
Keith R. Briffa
Affiliation:
Climatic Research Unit, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, United Kingdom
Philip D. Jones
Affiliation:
Climatic Research Unit, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, United Kingdom
Fritz H. Schweingruber
Affiliation:
Eidgenössische Anstalt für das Forstliche Versuchswesen, CH-8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Temperature variations over Europe are reconstructed for a 6-month “summer” season from April to September for the period 1750–1850 using a network of maximum latewood density chronologies of coniferous trees. Around 44% of the variance of the whole temperature grid was explained in calibration. Independent verification indicates that over the reconstruction period the explained variance averaged over the whole grid should lie in the range 30 to 35%. The reconstructions are better in the north of the region (about 50% explained temperature variance based on comparison with independent climate data) than in the south (below 20%). The temperature recontructions indicate cooler summers over Europe from 1812 to 1816 and during the 1830s. The summers of the 1820s were the warmest reconstructed. Decadal variations occur on a regional scale but no similar periods of anomalously cooler or warmer summers occurred between 1750 and 1810 throughout Europe.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 30 , Issue 1 , July 1988 , pp. 36 - 52
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Blasing, T.J., Fritts, H.C., Past climate of Alaska from tree rings. Weller, G., Bowling, S., (1975) Climate of the Arctic. Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, 48-58.Google Scholar
Blasing, T.J., Fritts, H.C., (1976) Reconstruction of past climatic anomalies in the north Pacific and western North America from tree-ring data. Quaternary Research. 6, 563-579.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bradley, R.S., Kelly, P.M., Jones, P.D., Goodess, C.M., Diaz, H.F., (1985)A Climatic Data Bank for Northern Hemisphere Land Areas, 1851–1980. U.S. Department of Energy Carbon Dioxide Research Division, Washington, DC, U.S. DoE Technical Report TR017.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bräker, O.U., (1981) Der Alterstand bei Jahrringdichten und Jahrrugbreiten von Nadelholzern un sein Ausgleich. Mitteilungen Forste Bundesversuchsanstalt Anst. Wien, H.. 142, 75-102.Google Scholar
Bräker, O.U., The European data base at the EAFV. Kairiukstis, L., Bednarz, Z., Feliksik, E., (1987)Methods of Dendrochronology-I. IIASA/Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, 133-136.Google Scholar
Briffa, K.R., (1984)Tree-Climate Relationships and Dendroclimatological Reconstruction in the British Isles. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. University of East Anglia, Norwich.Google Scholar
Briffa, K.R., (1987) Relationships between British climate and the radial growth of Quercus species: An empirical approach to climate reconstruction. Ward, R.G.W., Applications of Tree-Ring Studies. British Archaeological Reports International Series No. 333. 69-90, Oxford.Google Scholar
Briffa, K.R., Jones, P.D., Wigley, T.M.L., Pilcher, J.R., Baillie, M.G.L., 1986a. Climate reconstruction from tree rings. Part 2. Spatial reconstruction of summer mean sea-level pressure patterns over Great Britain. Journal of Climatology. 6, 1-15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Briffa, K.R., Wigley, T.M.L., Jones, P.D., Pilcher, K.R., Hughes, M.K., 1986b The Reconstruction of Past Circulation Patterns Over Europe Using Tree-Ring Data. Final Report to the Commission of European Communities under Contract No. CL. 111.UK(H).Google Scholar
Fritts, H.C., (1976) Tree Rings and Climate. Academic Press, New York/London.Google Scholar
Fritts, H.C., Lofgren, G.R., Gordon, G.A., (1979) Variations in climate since 1602 as reconstructed from tree rings. Quaternary Research. 12, 18-46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fritts, H.C., Lofgren, G.R., Gordon, G.A., (1981) Reconstructing seasonal to century time scale variations in climate from tree-ring evidence. Wigley, T.M.L., Ingram, M.J., Farmer, G., Climate and History. Cambridge Univ. Press, London/New York, 139-161.Google Scholar
Fritts, H.C., Wu, Xiangding, (1986) A comparison between response-function analysis and other regression techniques. Tree-Ring Bulletin. 46, 31-46.Google Scholar
Hughes, M.K., Kelly, P.M., Pilcher, J.R., LaMarche, V.C. Jr., (1982) Climate from Tree Rings. Cambridge Univ. Press, London/New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jolliffe, I.T., (1986) Principal Component Analysis. Springer-Verlag, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, P.D., Raper, S.C.B., Bradley, R.S., Diaz, H.F., Kelly, P.M., Wigley, T.M.L., (1986) Northern Hemisphere surface air temperature variations, 1851–1984. Journal of Climate and Applied Meteorology. 25, 161-179.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, P.D., Raper, S.C.B., Santer, B.D., Cherry, B.S.G., Goodess, C., Bradley, R.S., Diaz, H.F., Kelly, P.M., Wigley, T.M.L., (1985) A Grid Point Surface Air Temperature Data Set for the Northern Hemisphere: 1851–1984. U.S. Department of Energy Carbon Dioxide Research Division, Washington, DC, U.S. DoE Technical Report TR022.Google Scholar
Jones, P.D., Wigley, T.M.L., Briffa, K.R., (1987) Mon–thly Mean Pressure Reconstructions for Europe (Back to 1780) and North America (to 1858). U.S. Department of Energy Carbon Dioxide Research Division, Washington, DC, U.S. DoE Technical Report TR037.Google Scholar
Kelly, P.M., Wigley, T.M.L., Jones, P.D., (1984) European pressure maps for 18151816, the time of the eruption of Tambora. Climate Monitor. 13, 76-91.Google Scholar
Landsberg, H.E., Albert, J.M., (1974) The summer of 1816 and volcanism. Weatherwise. 27, 63-66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Manley, G., (1974) Central England temperatures: Monthly means 1659–1973. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society. 100, 389-405.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pfister, C., (1981) An analysis of the Little Ice Age climate in Switzerland and its consequences for agricultural production. Wigley, T.M.L., Ingram, M.J., Farmer, G., Climate and History. Cambridge Univ. Press, London/New York, 214-248.Google Scholar
Schweingruber, F.H., Site selection and sampling strategy. Kairiukstis, L., Bednarz, Z., Feliksik, E., 1987a Methods of Dendrochronology-I. IIASA/Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, 15-22.Google Scholar
Schweingruber, F.H., 1987b Flächenhafte dendroklimatische temperaturrekonstruktionen für Europa. Die Naturwissenschaften. 74, 205-212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schweingruber, F.H., Fritts, H.C., Bräker, L.G., Drew, L.G., Schar, E., (1978) The X-ray technique as applied to dendroclimatology. Tree-Ring Bulletin. 38, 61-91.Google Scholar
Stommmel, H., Stommel, E., (1979) The year without a summer. Scientific American. 240 6 134-140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stothers, R.B., (1984) The great Tambora eruption in 1815 and its aftermath. Science. 224, 1191-1198.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wigley, T.M.L., Tu, Qipu., (1983) Crop-climate modelling using spatial patterns of yield and climate. Part 1. Background and an example from Australia. Journal of Climate and Applied Meteorology. 22, 1831-1841.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar