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Late summer temperature variability for the Southern Rocky Mountains (USA) since 1735 CE: applying blue light intensity to low-latitude Picea engelmannii Parry ex Engelm

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Abstract

Our study examines the application of using blue intensity (BI) methods to develop a late summer maximum temperature (Tmax) reconstruction for the Southern Rocky Mountains—a mid-latitude (i.e., 36° N), arid region in North America. We reconstruct August–September (AS) Tmax for the period 1735–2015 CE using a composite latewood BI (LWB) Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii Parry ex Engelm.) chronology from multiple sites across the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in Northern New Mexico, USA. This study presents the first BI-derived temperature reconstruction for the lower mid-latitudes (30–45° N) of North America. We compare the climate response of multiple tree-ring parameters: LWB, earlywood BI (EWB), ∆BI (earlywood BI minus latewood BI), ring width (RW), and maximum latewood density (MXD). Of all parameters, the site-composite LWB and ∆BI chronologies show the strongest correlations with AS Tmax. Reconstructed AS Tmax demonstrates fluctuating warm and cool periods during the latter portion of the Little Ice Age (ca. 1730–1850) and pronounced warming through the early to mid-twentieth century (ca. 1920–1950s). The reconstruction also documents substantial warming over the last decade, the trend of which appears to be anomalous within the context of the past ca. 280 years. We highlight the potential for BI methods to be successfully used at high-elevation, mid-latitude locations where temperature proxy datasets are scarce or non-existent. As many places across the mid-latitudes lack contiguous, temporally resolved, decadal-scale paleotemperature proxies, we suggest here that BI methods can be effective at improving the spatial gaps in the Northern Hemisphere temperature proxy network.

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Acknowledgments

JT Maxwell and students were supported during the field sample collection by the Indiana University Institute for Advanced Study. We would like thank Lamar Gillespie, George Harley, Lola Harley, Douglas Heruska, Randy Matheaus, Joshua Oliver, Karly Schmidt, Kerri Spuller, Brandon Strange, and Michael Thornton for their assistance with the data collection, Rob Wilson, and the two anonymous reviewers for their very thorough edits and suggestions that improved earlier drafts of this manuscript.

Funding

We would like to thank the University of Idaho and Indiana University for the financial support of this project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Idaho Tree-Ring Laboratory, Department of Geography, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID, 83843, USA

    Karen J. Heeter, Grant L. Harley & James H. McGee

  2. Environmental Tree-Ring Laboratory, Department of Geography, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, 4740, USA

    Justin T. Maxwell

  3. Harvard Forest, Harvard University, Petersham, MA, 01336, USA

    Justin T. Maxwell

  4. Cal-Dendro Tree-Ring Laboratory, Department of Geography and Environment, California State University, Fullerton, Fullerton, CA, 92831, USA

    Trevis J. Matheus

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  1. Karen J. Heeter
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  2. Grant L. Harley
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Correspondence to Karen J. Heeter.

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Heeter, K.J., Harley, G.L., Maxwell, J.T. et al. Late summer temperature variability for the Southern Rocky Mountains (USA) since 1735 CE: applying blue light intensity to low-latitude Picea engelmannii Parry ex Engelm. Climatic Change 162, 965–988 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-020-02772-9

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