The Arctic is one of the regions where the effect of global change is most evident. Associated with warming are changes in snow, sea ice and hydroclimate, all which have significant impacts on environments and society. However, due to short observational records, it is difficult to set the current climate in a long-term context. Arctic driftwood (DW), available throughout the Holocene, is a paleoclimate resource that may shed information on past sea-ice, ocean current and atmospheric conditions because it is transported by sea ice across the Arctic. Moreover, DW tree-ring data can be used to interpret climate in the boreal forests where the trees grew. Here we present a study of 380 DW samples collected on eastern and south-western Svalbard. Combining species identification and dendrochronology, it was found that the DW mainly consisted of Pinus sylvestris, Picea sp. and Larix sp. (87% of all samples), mainly originating from northern Russia. In total, 60% of the DW could be dated and their provenance determined, and four tree-ring width chronologies representing Yenisei and Dvina-Pechora were constructed, facilitating extension and improvement of the existing chronologies representing those regions. Moreover, DW from relict beaches that can be subjected to dendrochronological analyses, provides possibilities to extend pan-Arctic tree-ring data even further back in time. Because there are several processes governing the temporal patterns of wood deposition in the Arctic, using DW as an indicator of sea-ice variations needs further investigation.

北极是全球变化影响最明显的地区之一。与变暖相关的是雪、海冰和水文气候的变化，所有这些都对环境和社会产生重大影响。然而，由于观测记录较短，很难在长期背景下设定当前的气候。北极浮木 (DW) 在整个全新世都可用，是一种古气候资源，可能会提供有关过去海冰、洋流和大气条件的信息，因为它是由海冰穿越北极的。此外，DW 树木年轮数据可用于解释树木生长的北方森林的气候。在这里，我们对在斯瓦尔巴群岛东部和西南部收集的 380 个 DW 样本进行了研究。结合物种鉴定和树木年代学，发现 DW 主要由樟子松，云杉sp。和落叶松sp。（所有样本的 87%），主要来自俄罗斯北部。总共有 60% 的 DW 可以确定年代并确定它们的来源，并构建了代表叶尼塞和德维纳-伯朝拉的四个树轮宽度年表，促进了代表这些地区的现有年表的扩展和改进。此外，可以进行树木年代学分析的来自遗迹海滩的 DW 提供了将泛北极树木年轮数据扩展到更远时间的可能性。因为有几个过程控制着北极木材沉积的时间模式，所以使用 DW 作为海冰变化的指标需要进一步调查。