Dendroclimatology in Fennoscandia – from past accomplishments to future potential

Abstract

Abstract. Fennoscandia has a strong tradition in dendrochronology, and its large tracts of boreal forest make the region well suited for the development of tree-ring chronologies that extend back several thousands of years. Two of the world's longest continuous (most tree-ring chronologies are annually resolved) tree-ring width chronologies are found in northern Fennoscandia, with records from Torneträsk and Finnish Lapland covering the last ca. 7500 yr. In addition, several chronologies between coastal Norway and the interior of Finland extend back several centuries. Tree-ring data from Fennoscandia have provided important information on regional climate variability during the mid to late Holocene and have played major roles in the reconstruction of hemispheric and global temperatures. Tree-ring data from the region have also been used to reconstruct large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns, regional precipitation and drought. Such information is imperative when trying to reach better understanding of natural climate change and variability and its forcing mechanisms, and placing recent climate change within a long-term context.

Climate change between the mid and late Holocene in northern high latitudes – Part 1: Survey of temperature and precipitation proxy data

“…The authors of the reconstruction, (Grudd et al, 2002), point out that the tree-ring width reconstruction does not express the full range of millennial time scale temperature variation in the Torneträsk area. The problem is also briefly discussed by Linderholm et al (2010), in their review of tree-ring data from Fennoscandia. They argue that multi-millennial temperature trends reconstructed from tree-ring data are not reliable.…”

Growth dynamics of tree-line and lake-shore Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) in the central Scandinavian Mountains during the Medieval Climate Anomaly and the early Little Ice Age

“…This is due to the possibility of gaining annually resolved data that can be calibrated against observational records. Several of the world's longest tree-ring chronologies, widely used in regional to global temperature reconstructions, come from Fennoscandia (Linderholm et al, 2010). In this region there are good possibilities to find long-lived trees (up to 700 years old) without too much human impact on their growth environments, but also trees that have been preserved in peat bogs and lakes, so called subfossil wood, for centuries to millennia (Gunnarson, 2001).…”

“…When sampling trees for climate reconstruction purposes, trees growing at their limit of distribution are usually chosen, since stressed trees are more sensitive to external forcing than complacent ones (Travis et al, 1990). Thus, in Fennoscandia, to reconstruct temperature, one would venture to the altitudinal or latitudinal tree limit, where temperatures during the cool and short summers usually are the main growth limiting factor for trees, to gain the best information (Linderholm et al, 2010). Accordingly, the CSM is in its most recent parts, the period which is calibrated against meteorological observations, built up from pines growing at the tree-line.…”

Reconstruction of the March–August PDSI since 1703 AD based on tree rings of Chinese pine (<i>Pinus tabulaeformis</i> Carr.) in the Lingkong Mountain, southeast Chinese loess Plateau

“…Annually dated tree rings are preferable climatic proxies for extending the limited modern meteorological record by analysing the relationship between tree-ring indexes and climatic factors, thereby reconstructing the climate history for centuries to millennia (Zhang et al, 2003;Yang et al, 2009;Zhu et al, 2009;Linderholm et al, 2010;Büntgen et al, 2011;Ohyama et al, 2013). Tree rings have been successfully used to investigate drought history throughout the world (Esper et al, 2007;Cook et al, 2010), including arid to semi-arid areas of China (Liang et al, 2006;Chen et al, 2011a;Fang et al, 2012;.…”