Siberian tree-ring and stable isotope proxies as indicators of temperature and moisture changes after major stratospheric volcanic eruptions

• Main Authors: O. V. Churakova (Sidorova), M. V. Fonti, M. Saurer, S. Guillet, C. Corona, P. Fonti, V. S. Myglan, A. V. Kirdyanov, O. V. Naumova, D. V. Ovchinnikov, A. V. Shashkin, I. P. Panyushkina, U. Büntgen, M. K. Hughes, E. A. Vaganov, R. T. W. Siegwolf, M. Stoffel
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Copernicus Publications 2019-04-01
• Series: Climate of the Past
• Online Access: https://www.clim-past.net/15/685/2019/cp-15-685-2019.pdf

<p>Stratospheric volcanic eruptions have far-reaching impacts on global climate and society. Tree rings can provide valuable climatic information on these impacts across different spatial and temporal scales. To detect temperature and hydroclimatic changes after strong stratospheric Common Era (CE) volcanic eruptions for the last 1500 years (535&thinsp;CE unknown, 540&thinsp;CE unknown, 1257&thinsp;CE Samalas, 1640&thinsp;CE Parker, 1815&thinsp;CE Tambora, and 1991&thinsp;CE Pinatubo), we measured and analyzed tree-ring width (TRW), maximum latewood density (MXD), cell wall thickness (CWT), and <span class="inline-formula"><i>δ</i>¹³C</span> and <span class="inline-formula"><i>δ</i>¹⁸O</span> in tree-ring cellulose chronologies of climate-sensitive larch trees from three different Siberian regions (northeastern Yakutia – YAK, eastern Taimyr – TAY, and Russian Altai – ALT).</p> <p>All tree-ring proxies proved to encode a significant and specific climatic signal of the growing season. Our findings suggest that TRW, MXD, and CWT show strong negative summer air temperature anomalies in 536, 541–542, and 1258–1259 at all studied regions. Based on <span class="inline-formula"><i>δ</i>¹³C</span>, 536 was extremely humid at YAK, as was 537–538 in TAY. No extreme hydroclimatic anomalies occurred in Siberia after the volcanic eruptions in 1640, 1815, and 1991, except for 1817 at ALT. The signal stored in <span class="inline-formula"><i>δ</i>¹⁸O</span> indicated significantly lower summer sunshine duration in 542 and 1258–1259 at YAK and 536 at ALT. Our results show that trees growing at YAK<span id="page686"/> and ALT mainly responded the first year after the eruptions, whereas at TAY, the growth response occurred after 2 years.</p> <p>The fact that differences exist in climate responses to volcanic eruptions – both in space and time – underlines the added value of a multiple tree-ring proxy assessment. As such, the various indicators used clearly help to provide a more realistic picture of the impact of volcanic eruption on past climate dynamics, which is fundamental for an improved understanding of climate dynamics, but also for the validation of global climate models.</p>