Winter temperatures in the second half of the sixteenth century in the central area of the Iberian Peninsula

Bullón, T.

doi:10.5194/cp-4-357-2008

Cited by 20 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…The hydro-meteorological events studied here coincided with cold snaps that brought abundant episodes of snow and ice (Bullón, 2008). Temperatures returned to normal during the 1590s after 30 yr of cold conditions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Relationships between precipitation and floods in the fluvial basins of Central Spain based on documentary sources from the end of the 16th century

Bullón

2011

Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. This study presents the results of a historic reconstruction based upon documentary sources of precipitation and floods during the last fifty years of the 16th century in Central Spain. We used data from primary sources contemporary to the events rather than compilations or secondary references. These documents belong to the institutions that administered the study area during the time period of interest and consist of municipal or monastic minute books and administrative texts from properties belonging to the nobility and royal family. Direct data that explicitly describe meteorological or flood-related events are haphazardly distributed throughout personal correspondence and various reports, and the sizes of floods or precipitation events can also be deduced from indirect data. We analysed the qualitative data by transforming them into numerical indices of intensity/duration for precipitation and intensity/area for floods. We differentiated three sets of years that presented different hydrological patterns. The first period, from 1554 to 1575, exhibited regular precipitation patterns associated with low-intensity floods. The second, from 1576 to 1584, was characterised by low precipitation levels and few floods. The third, from 1585 to 1599, showed intense precipitation with large floods interspersed with long-lasting droughts. We interpret these results in the context of the environmental and land-use patterns of the time period studied, which coincided with a period of low temperatures.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Relationships between precipitation and floods in the fluvial basins of Central Spain based on documentary sources from the end of the 16th century

Bullón

2011

Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci.

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“…To date, there have been few attempts to reconstruct temperatures over time in the IP due to the scarcity of information, the exception being the works by Rodrigo et al (1998) and Bullón (2008) focusing on Castile, in the central area of the IP, and for brief time periods (1634-1648, and 1550-1599, respectively). Our work represents the first attempt to reconstruct temperatures in the study region.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The construction of a regional series is justified by the analysis of the spatio-temporal variability in the region. The application of empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis to Andalusian stations during the period 1867(Castro-Díez et al, 2007 showed that, at seasonal and annual timescales, the first leading EOF pattern (explaining more than 50 % of the variance for both, temperature and precipitation) presents high correlations with all the stations, particularly in winter (65.69 % of explained variance for precipitation, 72.56 % for temperature). Basic statistics correspond to Mediterranean climatic characteristics, with wet and mild winters, warm and dry summers, and spring and autumn as transition seasons.…”

Section: Instrumental Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Portugal (Alcoforado et al, 2000;Taborda et al, 2004), and Castile, a central region in Spain (Rodrigo et al, 1998;Bullón, 2008;Domínguez-Castro et al, 2008). In addition, various studies coordinating data for the entire Iberian Peninsula have been published, related to flood events in Spanish river basins since 1500 AD (Barriendos and Rodrigo, 2006), droughts during the 17th century and the first half of the 18th century , and seasonal and annual rainfall variability from the 16th to 20th centuries (Rodrigo and Barriendos, 2008).…”

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Climate variability in Andalusia (southern Spain) during the period 1701–1850 based on documentary sources: evaluation and comparison with climate model simulations

2012

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Abstract. In this work, a reconstruction of climatic conditions in Andalusia (southern Iberian Peninsula) during the period 1701-1850, as well as an evaluation of its associated uncertainties, is presented. This period is interesting because it is characterized by a minimum in solar irradiance (Dalton Minimum, around 1800), as well as intense volcanic activity (for instance, the eruption of Tambora in 1815), at a time when any increase in atmospheric CO 2 concentrations was of minor importance. The reconstruction is based on the analysis of a wide variety of documentary data. The reconstruction methodology is based on counting the number of extreme events in the past, and inferring mean value and standard deviation using the assumption of normal distribution for the seasonal means of climate variables. This reconstruction methodology is tested within the pseudoreality of a high-resolution paleoclimate simulation performed with the regional climate model MM5 coupled to the global model ECHO-G. The results show that the reconstructions are influenced by the reference period chosen and the threshold values used to define extreme values. This creates uncertainties which are assessed within the context of climate simulation. An ensemble of reconstructions was obtained using two different reference periods (1885-1915 and 1960-1990) and two pairs of percentiles as threshold values (10-90 and 25-75). The results correspond to winter temperature, and winter, spring and autumn rainfall, and they are compared with simulations of the climate model for the considered period. The mean value of winter temperature for the period 1781-1850 was 10.6 ± 0.1 • C (11.0 • C for the reference period . The mean value of winter rainfall for the period 1701-1850 was 267 ± 18 mm (224 mm for . The mean values of spring and autumn rainfall were 164 ± 11 and 194 ± 16 mm (129 and 162 mm for 1960-1990, respectively). Comparison of the distribution functions corresponding to 1790-1820 and 1960-1990 indicates that during the Dalton Minimum the frequency of dry and warm (wet and cold) winters was lower (higher) than during the reference period: temperatures were up to 0.5 • C lower than the 1960-1990 value, and rainfall was 4 % higher.

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“…Numerous studies of historical climatology carried out subsequently in Spain are laying the methodological groundwork for an www.clim-past.net/8/751/2012/objective record of the historical news relating to the climate (Barriendos, 1997;Domínguez-Castro et al, 2010;Rodrigo and Barriendos, 2008). As far as Central Spain is concerned, these events are expressed in the work of Bullón (2008), and Domínguez-Castro et al (2008). Negative pointer years are much more abundant over the 17th century, particularly in its first half, which presents the highest concentration of extreme negative years for tree growth (9 yr).…”

Section: Temporal Distribution Of Pointer Years and Their Significancmentioning

confidence: 99%

Extreme pointer years in tree-ring records of Central Spain as evidence of climatic events and the eruption of the Huaynaputina Volcano (Peru, 1600 AD)

Génova

2012

Clim. Past

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Abstract. The study of pointer years of numerous treering chronologies of the central Iberian Peninsula (Sierra de Guadarrama) could provide complementary information about climate variability over the last 405 yr. In total, 64 pointer years have been identified: 30 negative (representing minimum growths) and 34 positive (representing maximum growths), the most significant of these being 1601, 1963 and 1996 for the negative ones, and 1734 and 1737 for the positive ones. Given that summer precipitation was found to be the most limiting factor for the growth of Pinus in the Sierra de Guadarrama in the second half of the 20th century, it is also an explanatory factor in almost 50 % of the extreme growths. Furthermore, these pointer years and intervals are not evenly distributed throughout time. Both in the first half of the 17th and in the second half of 20th, they were more frequent and more extreme and these periods are the most notable for the frequency of negative pointer years in Central Spain. The interval 1600-1602 is of special significance, being one of the most unfavourable for tree growth in the centre of Spain, with 1601 representing the minimum index in the regional chronology. We infer that this special minimum annual increase was the effect of the eruption of Huaynaputina, which occurred in Peru at the beginning of 1600 AD. This is the first time that the effects of this eruption in the tree-ring records of Southern Europe have been demonstrated.

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Winter temperatures in the second half of the sixteenth century in the central area of the Iberian Peninsula

Cited by 20 publications

References 26 publications

Relationships between precipitation and floods in the fluvial basins of Central Spain based on documentary sources from the end of the 16th century

Relationships between precipitation and floods in the fluvial basins of Central Spain based on documentary sources from the end of the 16th century

Climate variability in Andalusia (southern Spain) during the period 1701–1850 based on documentary sources: evaluation and comparison with climate model simulations

Extreme pointer years in tree-ring records of Central Spain as evidence of climatic events and the eruption of the Huaynaputina Volcano (Peru, 1600 AD)

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