Past Temperature Variability Inferred from Tree-Ring Records for the Past Millennium

Tree rings are an important proxy for inferring past temperature variability as they are precisely dated to the year and, especially for higher latitude and alpine treeline regions of the world, can be very sensitive to past changes in temperature on interannual to much lower frequency (centennial) time scales. Temperatures can be reconstructed from both ring widths and maximum latewood density time series, which are complementary parameters with different strengths and weaknesses. Hemispheric-scale temperature reconstructions based on such data are highly useful records for inferring temperature changes over the past millennium, as well as the past sensitivity of the Earth's climate system. One hundred years of tree-ring science have identified no real evidence that adverse climatic events can cause such severely cold conditions that no rings might form at any of the trees at a given site, resulting in misdating of the final chronology. Rather, based on both tree-ring observations and modeling analyses, there is clear evidence of precise dating and laying down of rings in at least some trees at each site even under extremely adverse cold conditions.