Influence of Winter Temperatures on Annual Growth of Conifers in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee, U.S.A.
Grissino-Mayer HD, Brenton WH, Clark PW, Mortenson SG, Spond MD, Williams AP. 2007. Influence of Winter Temperatures on Annual Growth of Conifers in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee, U.S.A.. North American Dendroecological Fieldweek Report
ABSTRACT: Great Smoky Mountains National Park represents one of the most biologically diverse landscapes anywhere in the world, and contains the largest concentration of different tree species anywhere in the United States. We analyzed tree‐ring data from shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata P. Miller) and Table Mountain pine (Pinus pungens Lamb.) to evaluate the strength and clarity of the climate response, then reconstructed climate from the shortleaf pine tree‐ring chronology. The climate response was found to be highest when using the standard negative exponential/linear detrending option available in ARSTAN, when compared to detrending using various spline lengths. We found that both pines are most responsive to inter‐annual fluctuations in winter (January‐February) temperature (shortleaf pine, Jan r = 0.50, p < 0.001, Feb r = 0.42, p < 0.001; Table Mountain pine, Jan r = 0.42, p < 0.001, Feb r = 0.37, p < 0.01). Narrow rings were found to be produced when the Bermuda High pressure area over the northern Atlantic was especially pronounced and extended over the eastern U.S., causing drier conditions. Wide rings were likely when temperatures were well above average along the eastern seaboard, while narrow rings were produced when conditions were cooler. Analyses of long‐term teleconnections revealed that both Atlantic and Pacific sea surface temperatures have strong, statistically significant relationships, especially with shortleaf pine tree growth. The reconstruction revealed a major change to longer‐term inter‐annual scale oscillations beginning ca. 1880, consistent with the changes observed in the tree‐ring data via wavelet analysis.
- Type
- Unpublished Report
- Authors
- Grissino-Mayer, Henri; Brenton, William; Clark, Peter; Mortenson, Susan; Spond, Mark; Williams, A
- Date of Issue
- 2007
- Publisher
- North American Dendroecological Fieldweek Report
- Units
- GRSM
- Keywords
- APHN, Appalachian Highlands Network, climate, climate response, Gold Mine Trail, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, GRSM, GRSM-00035, GRSM-00474, ocean-atmosphere teleconnections, Pinus echinata, Pinus pungens, sea-level pressure, SER, shortleaf pine, Southeast Region, Table Mountain pine, tree rings, wavelet analysis, winter temperature