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Reconstructing hemispheric‐scale climates from multiple stalagmite records
Author(s) -
Smith Claire L.,
Baker Andy,
Fairchild Ian J.,
Frisia Silvia,
Borsato Andrea
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
international journal of climatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.58
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-0088
pISSN - 0899-8418
DOI - 10.1002/joc.1329
Subject(s) - stalagmite , northern hemisphere , climatology , centennial , southern hemisphere , magnitude (astronomy) , climate change , scale (ratio) , environmental science , geology , cave , geography , cartography , archaeology , oceanography , physics , astronomy
Abstract The magnitude of recent warming, and the variability of climate on centennial‐millennial time scales are compromised by questions concerning the ability of tree rings to capture low‐frequency climate fluctuations. Annually laminated stalagmite records can potentially provide a low‐frequency climate archive through variations in annual growth rate. Presented here is an initial attempt to demonstrate the applicability of annually laminated stalagmite series to a large‐scale climate reconstruction, by producing a 500‐year Northern Hemisphere temperature reconstruction. The reconstruction shows an overall warming trend with a magnitude of 0.65 K and several other low‐frequency characteristics consistent with other independent Northern Hemisphere archives. The result is sufficiently encouraging to warrant significant future effort in characterising annual growth rate records from laminated speleothems. Copyright © 2006 Royal Meteorological Society.