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Key message: The oak species Q. crassifolia produces reliable annual rings with better climatic sensitivity than many conifer species commonly used for hydroclimatic reconstructions in Mexico. Most dendrochronological research in Mexico has been done with conifers, but broadleaf species have been underutilized. Mexican oaks are found among those species receiving limited attention for dendrochronological purposes, despite Mexico being a primary center of oak diversity with over 160 species. The objectives of this study were: (1) date the annual radial increments of oaks (Quercus crassifolia Bonpl.), and (2) analyze the dendrochronological potential and climatic response of the species to reconstruct historical climatic variability and the influence of ocean–atmospheric modes. The study was located at the Barajas site, municipality of Tepehuanes, Durango, Mexico. Wood samples consisted of 60 cross sections, 30 of them obtained at the base of the stem, and 30 more ca. 20–30 cm above the first cross section, which were analyzed by dendrochronological techniques. A tree-ring width chronology 177 years long (1840–2016) was developed indicating suitable values of series intercorrelation (0.52), mean sensitivity (0.26), signal-to-noise ratio (8.98), first-order autocorrelation (0.21), rbar (0.28), and expressed population signal (0.86) for the period 1890–2016. Dendrochronological parameters were similar or superior to those obtained from conifer species in the region. The chronology shows the strongest relationship with October–May precipitation, explaining ca. 60% of its variability (1951–1984, r = 0.78, p < 0.01), but a negative response to the average seasonal October–May temperature (1902–2016, r = -0.50, p < 0.01). The annual growth rings of Q. crassifolia showed a negative association (1890–1977, r = – 0.67, p < 0.01) with the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (reconstructed Southern Oscillation Index), and positive with the Pacific Decadal Oscillation Index (1948–2015, r = 0.39, p < 0.01, the reconstructed Palmer Drought Severity Index (1890–2012, r = 0.73, p < 0.01), and the seasonal winter–spring Standard Precipitation Index (1890–2016, r = 0.76, p < 0.01). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The availability of both ancient and modern wood samples enables the Chinese fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata) in Central East China to become a potential tree species for dendroclimatic reconstruction over the Common Era. However, the potential of using tree-ring α-cellulose oxygen isotope ratios (δ18O TRC) in Chinese fir for the purposes of cross-dating and climatic reconstruction remains unexplored. Here we presented three δ18O TRC chronologies (1954–2006 CE) for the whole-ring (δ18O WR), earlywood (δ18O EW), and latewood (δ18O LW) in Chinese fir. The results indicated that the δ18O WR had the highest correlation among individual trees. Using the δ18O WR instead of the conventionally employed TRW can facilitate the cross-dating procedure. The δ18O WR , δ18O EW , and δ18O LW exhibited the strongest relationships with the hydroclimate variables during the entire (June–September), early (June–July), and late (August–September) summer, respectively. The climate conditions preceding the growing season had a stronger influence on δ18O EW than δ18O LW. Using the δ18O WR and δ18O EW to reconstruct the hydroclimate variations may result in greater bias than the use of δ18O LW. Our study demonstrated that the δ18O TRC in Chinese fir from Central East China has the potential for cross-dating and summer hydroclimate reconstruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Greek island of Crete is one of the southernmost regions of Europe with a long and rich history, which begins as early as ca. 3200 BC with the onset of the Minoan civilization. The archeological findings of well-designed water supply and sewerage systems in the Minoan Palaces and other settlements, with impressive architecture and highlevel functionality, suggest a good degree of understanding of the basic water management techniques well before the scientific achievements of our times. Here we document characteristic examples of the ancient hydraulic works and the related hydro-technologies throughout the history of Crete. We summarize the pressures on the water resources in Crete in connection with climatic variability and investigate how and what could be learned from the past using recent findings and paleoclimatology. The reconstructions of the Eastern Mediterranean and more specifically of the Cretan climate using different proxy data (e.g. sediment, pollen, and historical archives) demonstrate a series of alternating periods with varying climatic characteristics with fluctuation lengths spanning from a few decades to many centuries. The synthesis of the on-going research on past climate offers the opportunity to create a picture of the Cretan climatic regime for the last 10,000 years, which could be useful to both hydrologists and archeologists. As the past is the key to the future, the information provided could help in developing modern integrated and sustainable water management plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Siberian larch (Larix sibirica) trees were studied in a drought-stressed, low-elevation Taiga forest in the Altay Mountains for their potential to be used for reconstructing precipitation. Aclimate/growth analysis provided evidence that the tree-ring widths were strongly determined by the climatic conditions from May to July, positively by precipitation and negatively by temperature. Nevertheless, the resulting regional tree-ring chronology of Siberian larch offers only a limited possibility to perform reliable reconstructions of precipitation as only 30.8% of the total variation of the actual April-July precipitation was explainable. Drought events reflected by the chronology were compared with historical records and other tree-ring derived climate reconstructions, showing some common events of climate extremes over much of Central Asia. This new Siberian larch chronology and an earlier maximum latewood density (MXD) chronology from the neighboring region reveal that the local climate is mainly characterized by cold/wet and warm/dry situations over the past 251 years. This study demonstrates that the use of both tree-ring width and MXD data may increase information of past climate variability in the Altay mountain region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Methodological problems of climatic reconstruction for different periods of Holocene are discussed on the basis of a multiple group biological analysis on peat-sapropel sediments. The possibility of biological analysis is exemplified by the paleoclimatic reconstruction for Carpathian and Altai Mountain ranges. For the 'Skolevsky Beskidy' national park of Carpaty the paleoclimatic scenarios have been drown up aiming at the more precise definition of climatic conditions for the period of mass mountain slope terracing. The stability of terrace systems of various designs in the current climatic conditions has been assessed. It is shown that during periods of humid climate the terraces, whose designs have been focused on drainage, were built. In periods of dry and warm climate the terrace systems capable of accumulating water were built. Both these types of terrace systems are destroyed in nowadays. Only those terrace systems are stable which were adjusted by their builders to contrast variations of precipitation. For Western Altais the paleoclimatic scenario has been done to forecast the safety of the Bronze Age kurgans (burial earth mounds) with permafrost inside the construction. In the Altay region during the Holocene it has revealed two periods of sharp cooling, the peaks of which occurred in the intervals 4500-4300 and 2500-2300 years ago, and two periods of pronounced climatic drying 4900-4700 and 130-70 years ago. Depletion of the algae composition in the layer corresponding to the last period of drying climate indicates a very sharp change in the parameters of moisture and turning the lake into a dry swamp. Periods of cold weather may have contributed to the formation of special ritual traditions of the Sakan tribes that require the frozen ground to bury the dead. The later climate fluctuations identified have not affected the safety of permafrost in burial mounds constructed in the V-III cc BC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role that climate plays in influencing the physiognomy of modern and fossil plant communities is widely acknowledged and forms the basis for several palaeoclimate proxies. In this work, both univariate Leaf Margin Analysis and multivariate Climate/Leaf Analysis Multivariate Program (CLAMP) were used for the climatic reconstruction of two fossil localities of the Atotonilco El Grande Formation. Using the predominantly North American and Asian calibration data set PHYSG3BRC, supplemented with new African material, results from two sites, Los Baños (present position 20°18′18″N, 98°42′44.4″W) and Sanctorum (20°18′18.5″N and 98°46′52.2″W), indicate that during the Pliocene a mesothermal climate existed with mean annual temperatures between 12 and 22°C, with the most likely being approximately 15°C, and a mean annual temperature range of 21°C. A distinct seasonal variation in rainfall is evident with a mean annual relative humidity of 60–70%. Differences between the sites can be explained by differences in depositional regime and spatial heterogeneity in the predominantly Quercus-dominated woodland. The continuous subsequent uplift of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the resulting development of a rain shadow, and the eventual disappearance of a palaeolake appear to have caused a transition to the modern xerophytic shrub vegetation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated documents and diaries from the ninth to the fourteenth centuries to supplement the phenological data series of the flowering of Japanese cherry (Prunus jamasakura) in Kyoto, Japan, to improve and fill gaps in temperature estimates based on previously reported phenological data. We then reconstructed a nearly continuous series of March mean temperatures based on 224 years of cherry flowering data, including 51 years of previously unused data, to clarify springtime climate changes. We also attempted to estimate cherry full-flowering dates from phenological records of other deciduous species, adding further data for 6 years in the tenth and eleventh centuries by using the flowering phenology of Japanese wisteria (Wisteria floribunda). The reconstructed tenth century March mean temperatures were around 7°C, indicating warmer conditions than at present. Temperatures then fell until the 1180s, recovered gradually until the 1310s, and then declined again in the mid-fourteenth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the reconstruction of climate using a variety of historical documents in China. It is stated that there were 14 published temperature series by different studies that were examined for coherence and mutual consistency. The analyses revealed that for the individual time series on the 10-year time scales, 57 of the 91 correlation coefficients attain the implication level of 99%. Furthermore, consistency also show when equating the reconstructions with other available natural climate change indicators.

The article investigates the phenological data on cherry tree flowering at Kyoto, Japan and its relation to springtime temperature reconstruction using historical records. Data showed comparison of sunspot cycle length with temperatures averaged over three different periods leading to the results that the secular change in springtime temperature at Kyoto lagged the short-term solar variation for 15 years. Based on the study, full-flowering dates of cherry trees have correlation to the March mean temperature through a temperature accumulation index, in which the growth of plants is regarded as an exponential function of temperature.

Abstract: The Heinrich Event 1, the most recent of the glacial North Atlantic large iceberg discharges, is well documented in continental and marine records, but this large perturbation of the climate system has rarely been simulated. Here we propose a preliminary model-data comparison for this period, which we compare to the Last Glacial Maximum state. The pollen record from one specific core from the western Mediterranean Sea (ODP site 976) is analysed both in terms of vegetation distribution and climatic implication. The climate and vegetation of both periods are then simulated and compared to the pollen-based data. To cite this article: M. Kageyama et al., C. R. Geoscience 337 (2005). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We developed a quantitative chironomid-July air temperature inference model based on surface sediments from 81 Swiss lakes and applied it to the Holocene subfossil chironomid record of Hinterburgsee, a small subalpine lake in the northern Swiss Alps (present-day mean July air temperature of 11.3°C). After smoothing to reduce the high between-sample variability of inferred temperatures, the reconstruction indicates July air temperatures of 10.4- 10.9°C at the end of the Younger Dryas, of 11.9-12.8°C during the early and mid-Holocene (11500-4000 cal. BP), and slightly lower temperatures of 11.5-12.0°C during the late Holocene (3500-1000 cal. BP). A warming trend inferred for the past millennium is most likely an artifact of human impact on Hinterburgsee's chironomid fauna, rather than a genuine temperature signal. The most prominent climatological events during the Holocene were two periods of lower temperatures at c. 10700-10500 cal. BP and 8200-7700 cal. BP and an abrupt shift to a cooler late-Holocene climate around 4000-3700 cal. BP. Although the chironomid-inferred climate signals were within the prediction error of the model (1.51°C), major inferred temperature changes agree well with other northern and central European climate reconstructions and underline the potential of subfossil chironomid analysis to reconstruct even the moderate climatic changes within the Holocene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the research carried out to check the climatic characteristics of the late Maunder Minimum (LMM) (ad 1675–1715) in the southwestern part of the Iberian Peninsula and as an aid towards pressure patterns reconstruction in the NE Atlantic and Europe. Documentary evidence reveals that interannual precipitation variability was similar to the present one, although some very severe dry periods occurred (particularly one in 1694). On the other hand, during the LMM there was a higher percentage of cold winter months, some of them with snowfall. A brief comparison is made with other areas from the Mediterranean. The relationships between weather similarities and differences for particular months is analysed in the light of the reconstructed synoptical patterns, and further research into historical climatic change of southern Europe is suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climatic variations over the two last centuries are well known for the northern hemisphere, but very little information is available for subantarctic islands. In this paper, we combined geomorphological observations and a new biological dating technique to propose a reconstruction of the cool and warm events in the Kerguelen Islands during the last two centuries. The usual dating methods, such as dendrochonology or C dating, are not applicable on Kerguelen. Therefore, the radial growth of Azorella selago Hook., a cushion-forming Umbelliferae species, was used to estimate the absolute age of deglaciated areas. Glacial margins in the vicinity of the Glacier Ampère constitute the most complete chronosequence studied in this part of the world and illustrate seven warming-cooling cycles. This new dating technique is validated by the close relationship between the calculated ages of these climatic events and the results of several studies in other circumantarctic regions. The Glacier Ampère reached its maximum extent at the end of the eighteenth century. Since 1799, two discrete phases may be distinguished: the first period (1799-1965) is characterized by small glacier fluctuations (1 km retreat overall) whereas in the second period (1966 to the present), the retreat is much more rapid (about 3 km). It seems that the current dramatic glacial retreat on Kerguelen is related to a major change in the climate and could illustrate a more general southern hemispheric pattern of glacial fluctuations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Little Ice Age' marginal moraines in the Grovabreen area, inner Sunnfjord, are mapped and described. The modem and 'Little Ice Age' (mid-eighteenth century) equilibrium-line altitude (ELA) of the plateau glacier Grovabreen is calculated by the use of an accumulation-area ratio (AAR) of 0.6, giving a 'Little Ice Age' ELA depression of 125 m. AAR-ELA depression of the 'Little Ice Age' glaciers is also calculated for northern and southern outlet glaciers. Different estimates are considered to be the result of topographic differences. Other methods, such as the mean elevation of glaciers (MEG) and the toe-to-headwall altitude ratio (THAR), gave ELA depressions of 260 m and 315 m, respectively. These differences, due to topographic conditions, indicate that only glaciers with a uniform slope should be used to calculate the regional ELA of former glaciers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

There is a growing number of studies that use historical sources to reconstruct recent environmental change. In Mexico there are abundant sources of information that can be used to determine variations in the climate over the historical period. In this paper we draw together information from a variety of primary and secondary historical sources to reconstruct fluctuations in the climate of central Mexico over the last 600 years. The Aztecs are believed to have entered the Basin of Mexico during a period of severe drought. Wet conditions, however, characterized much of the Aztec (AD 1345-1521) and early colonial period prior to a return to drier conditions in the 1640s. Between 1640 and 1915, a series of severe droughts caused widespread devastation throughout central Mexico, particularly during the mid- to late 1700s and late 1800s. Since the early 1900s this region has experienced slightly wetter conditions. The climatic record from the Basin of Mexico is compared with proxy climatic data from two other areas in Mexico: a detailed lake-level curve from Lake Patzcuaro in central Mexico and the few tree-ring records from northern Mexico. Although the palaeoclimatic records from central Mexico are similar, there is greater divergence between the records from central and northern Mexico. In general, fluctuations in the climate over the last 600 years can be explained by changes in the relative strength of the summer 'monsoon', but it is possible that ENSO events can cause considerable differences in prevailing climate conditions in the northern and central parts of the country. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]