Tree-Ring Isotopes Adjacent to Lake Superior Reveal Cold Winter Anomalies for the Great Lakes Region of North America

Authors

Steven Voelker, Utah State UniversityFollow
S.-Y. Simon Wang, Utah State UniversityFollow
Todd E. Dawson, University of California - Berkeley
John S. Roden, Southern Oregon University
Christopher J. Still, Oregon State University
Fred J. Longstaffe, Western University
Avner Ayalon, Geological Survey of Israel

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title/Conference

Science Reports

Volume

9

Publisher

natureresearch

Publication Date

3-13-2019

Award Number

NSF, Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences (AGS) 1903721

Funder

NSF, Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences (AGS)

First Page

1

Last Page

10

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Abstract

Tree-ring carbon isotope discrimination (Δ¹³C) and oxygen isotopes (δ¹⁸O) collected from white pine (Pinus strobus) trees adjacent to Lake Superior show potential to produce the first winter-specific paleoclimate reconstruction with inter-annual resolution for this region. Isotopic signatures from 1976 to 2015 were strongly linked to antecedent winter minimum temperatures (T_min), Lake Superior peak ice cover, and regional to continental-scale atmospheric winter pressure variability including the North American Dipole. The immense thermal inertia of Lake Superior underlies the unique connection between winter conditions and tree-ring Δ¹³C and δ¹⁸O signals from the following growing season in trees located near the lake. By combining these signals, we demonstrate feasibility to reconstruct variability in T_min, ice cover, and continental-scale atmospheric circulation patterns (r ≥ 0.65, P < 0.001).

Recommended Citation

Voelker, Steven L., et al. "Tree-Ring Isotopes Adjacent to Lake Superior Reveal Cold Winter Anomalies for the Great Lakes Region of North America." Scientific Reports, vol. 9, 2019, pp. 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-40907-w