Late Holocene Climatic Variation in Northwestern Alaska as Reconstructed From Tree Rings
Graumlich LJ. 1997. Late Holocene Climatic Variation in Northwestern Alaska as Reconstructed From Tree Rings. The Laboratory for Tree-Ring Research, University of Arizona. Tucson, AZ
Tree-ring series of white spruce (Picea glauca (Moench) Voss) obtained from archeological samples collected by Louis Giddings in the Kobuk River valley in the 1940s provide a rich source of data for paleoclimatic inference. We used 102 Giddings archeological tree-ring series to create an expanded and corrected tree-ring chronology for the Kobuk River for the period AD 978 to 1941. We combined these data with 205 ring-width series from living trees in the Kobuk and Noatak River valleys to create a climatically sensitive chronology that extends from AD 1091 to 1992. The chronology reflects variation in early summer (late June through early July) maximum temperature. The long-term record indicates that the 20th century is anomalously warm compared to the long-term average. Persistent low temperatures occurred from 1763 to 1852, from 1633 to 1687, from 1369 to 1408, and from 1150 to 1206. Short-term warm anomalies occurred at 1688 to 1734 and 1207 to 1294.
- Type
- Unpublished Report
- Authors
- Graumlich, Lisa
- Date of Issue
- 1997-06-01
- Publisher
- The Laboratory for Tree-Ring Research, University of Arizona
- Units
- KOVA
- Keywords
- Dendrochronology, Giddings, Kobuk River, Kobuk Valley, KOVA, tree ring