Current Science

Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription Access

Tree-Ring-Width Chronologies from Moisture Stressed Sites Fail to Capture Volcanic Eruption Associated Extreme Low Temperature Events


Affiliations
1 Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, 33 GMS Road, Dehradun 248 001, India
 

Tree-rings have been extensively used to develop temperature reconstructions using conifer species growing in different parts of the Himalaya. The reconstructions are based on the existence of both positive and negative relationship between the tree-ring chronologies and instrumental temperature records. However, the reconstructions based on positive relationship between tree-ring and temperature series are few. Regional temperature reconstructions developed using tree-ring series have revealed a significant correlation with the regional data which degraded gradually with distance from the tree-ring sampling sites indicating dominant orographic control on climate. On critical assessment of the available tree-ring-based temperature reconstructions, glaring anomalies were reported especially in case of the extreme years coinciding with the volcanic eruption associated cooling. Tree-ring-based reconstructions from Kashmir and Nepal, where temperature has direct forcing on tree-ring widths, indicated unusually cold temperatures in 1816, coinciding with the Tambora volcanic eruption in April 1815 in Indonesia. However, in the case of the chronologies having negative relationship with temperature, usually warmer conditions are reconstructed against the narrow rings usually observed in 1816. The narrow rings in 1816 could have been caused due to volcanic eruption induced cooling as well as reduced solar radiation restricting the photosynthesis. Thus changes in the limiting factor led to the break in relationship between tree-ring indices and climate parameters. In view of this, it is suggested that the environmental variables having direct relationship with tree growth should be reconstructed from tree-ring chronologies as there exists a fair possibility that the growth limiting factor such as temperature remains stable over time.

Keywords

Himalaya, Tambora, Temperature Reconstruction, Tree-Ring-Width, Volcanic Eruption, Wood Density.
User
Notifications
Font Size

  • Fritts, H. C., Tree Rings and Climate, Academic Press, London, New York, San Francisco, 1976.

  • Cook, E. R. and Kairiukstis, L. A. (eds), Methods of Dendrochronology, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, 1990.

  • LaMarche Jr, V. C., Sampling strategies. In Climate from Tree Rings (eds Hughes, M. K. et al.), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1982, pp. 2–6.

  • Hughes, M. K., Dendroclimatic evidence from the Western Himalaya. In Climate Since 1500 AD (eds Bradley, R. S. and Jones, P. D.), London, Routledge, 1992, pp. 415–431.

  • Hughes, M. K., An improved reconstruction of summer temperature at Srinagar, Kashmir since AD 1660, based on tree-ring width and maximum latewood density of Abies pindrow (Royle) Spach. Palaeobotanist, 2001, 50, 13–19.

  • Yadav, R. R., Park, W.-K. and Bhattacharyya, A., Dendroclimatic reconstruction of April–May temperature fluctuations in the western Himalaya of India since AD 1698. Quat. Res., 1997, 48, 187– 191.

  • Yadav, R. R., Park, W.-K. and Bhattacharya, A., Spring temperature fluctuations in the western Himalayan region as reconstructed from tree-rings; AD 1390–1987. The Holocene, 1999, 9, 85–90.

  • Yadav, R. R. and Singh, J., Tree-ring-based spring temperature patterns over the past four centuries in Western Himalaya. Quat. Res., 2002, 57, 299–305.

  • Cook, E. R., Krusic, P. J. and Jones, P. D., Dendroclimatic signals in long tree-ring chronologies from the Himalayas of Nepal. Int. J. Climatol., 2003, 23, 707–732.

  • Sano, M., Furuta, F., Kobayashi, O. and Sweda, T., Temperature variations since the mid-18th century for western Nepal, as reconstructed from tree-ring width and density of Abies spectabilis. Dendrochronologia, 2005, 23, 83–92.

  • Yadav, R. R., Braeuning, A. and Singh, J., Tree ring inferred summer temperature variations over the last millennium in western Himalaya, India. Clim. Dyn., 2011, 36, 1545–1554.

  • PAGES 2k consortium, continental-scale temperature variability during the past two millennia. Nat. Geosci., 2013, 6, 339–346.

  • Thapa, U. K., Shah, S. K., Gaire, N. P. and Bhuju, D. R., Spring temperatures in the far-western Nepal Himalaya since AD 1640 reconstructed from Picea smithiana tree-ring widths. Clim. Dyn., 2015, 45, 2069–2081.

  • Borgaonkar, H. P., Gandhi, N., Somaru Ram and Krishnan, R., Tree-ring reconstruction of late summer temperatures in northern Sikkim (eastern Himalayas). Palaeogeogr., Palaeoclimatol., Palaeoecol., 2018, 504, 125–135.

  • Borgaonkar, H. P., Pant, G. B. and Rupa Kumar, K., Ring-width variations in Cedrus deodara and its climatic response over the western Himalaya. Int. J. Climatol., 1996, 16, 1409–1422.

  • Harington, C. R. (ed.), The Year Without a Summer? Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa, 1992.

  • Sachs, M. and Graf, H. F., The volcanic impact on global atmosphere and climate. In Climate of the 21st Century: Changes and Risks (eds Lozán, L. L., Grasl, H. and Hupfer, P.), Wissenschaftliche Auswertungen, 2001, pp. 34–37.

  • Simkin, T. and Siebert, L., Volcanoes of the World, Geoscience, Tucson, 1994, 2nd edn.

  • Cole-Dai, J., Mosley-Thompson, E. and Thompson, L. G., Annually resolved southern hemisphere volcanic history from two Antarctic ice cores. J. Geophys. Res., 1997, 102, 16761–16771.

  • Briffa, K. R., Jones, P. D., Schweingruber, F. H. and Osborn, T. J., Influence of volcanic eruptions on Northern Hemisphere summer temperature over the past 600 years. Nature, 1998, 393, 450–455.

  • Jones, P. D., Briffa, K. R. and Schweingruber, F. H., Tree-ring evidence of the widespread effects of explosive volcanic eruptions. Geophys. Res. Lett., 1995, 22, 1333–1336.

  • Dai, J. E., Mosley-Thompson, E. and Thompson, L. G., Ice core evidence for an explosive tropical eruption 6 years preceding Tambora. J. Geophys. Res., 1991, 96, 17361–17366.

  • Yadav, R. R., Park, W.-K., Singh, J. and Dubey, B., Do the western Himalayas defy global warming? Geophys. Res. Lett., 2004, 31, L17201; doi:10.1029/2004GL020201.

  • Bhattacharyya, A. and Chaudhary, V., Late-summer temperature reconstruction of the eastern Himalayan region based on tree-ring data of Abies densa. Arct. Antarct. Alp. Res., 2003, 35, 196– 202.

  • Yadava, A. K., Yadav, R. R., Misra, K. G., Singh, J. and Singh, D., Tree ring evidence of late summer warming in Sikkim, northeast India. Quat. Int., 2015, 371, 175–180.


Abstract Views: 459

PDF Views: 133




  • Tree-Ring-Width Chronologies from Moisture Stressed Sites Fail to Capture Volcanic Eruption Associated Extreme Low Temperature Events

Abstract Views: 459  |  PDF Views: 133

Authors

Ram R. Yadav
Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, 33 GMS Road, Dehradun 248 001, India
Jayendra Singh
Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, 33 GMS Road, Dehradun 248 001, India

Abstract


Tree-rings have been extensively used to develop temperature reconstructions using conifer species growing in different parts of the Himalaya. The reconstructions are based on the existence of both positive and negative relationship between the tree-ring chronologies and instrumental temperature records. However, the reconstructions based on positive relationship between tree-ring and temperature series are few. Regional temperature reconstructions developed using tree-ring series have revealed a significant correlation with the regional data which degraded gradually with distance from the tree-ring sampling sites indicating dominant orographic control on climate. On critical assessment of the available tree-ring-based temperature reconstructions, glaring anomalies were reported especially in case of the extreme years coinciding with the volcanic eruption associated cooling. Tree-ring-based reconstructions from Kashmir and Nepal, where temperature has direct forcing on tree-ring widths, indicated unusually cold temperatures in 1816, coinciding with the Tambora volcanic eruption in April 1815 in Indonesia. However, in the case of the chronologies having negative relationship with temperature, usually warmer conditions are reconstructed against the narrow rings usually observed in 1816. The narrow rings in 1816 could have been caused due to volcanic eruption induced cooling as well as reduced solar radiation restricting the photosynthesis. Thus changes in the limiting factor led to the break in relationship between tree-ring indices and climate parameters. In view of this, it is suggested that the environmental variables having direct relationship with tree growth should be reconstructed from tree-ring chronologies as there exists a fair possibility that the growth limiting factor such as temperature remains stable over time.

Keywords


Himalaya, Tambora, Temperature Reconstruction, Tree-Ring-Width, Volcanic Eruption, Wood Density.

References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv119%2Fi2%2F189-194