Collaborative Research: P2C2--Recent Northeastern United States Temperature Records in the Context of the Late Holocene

在过去的一个世纪里，美国东北部经历了显著的变暖(约1.1摄氏度)，近年来该地区周围出现了多个创纪录的高温。尽管由于该地区人口密集，造成了巨大的影响，但我们并不完全了解这些趋势在多大程度上反映了辐射强迫与自然十年尺度的变化。古气候数据提供了在十年时间尺度上观察气候系统的机会，这是仅靠仪器数据无法获得的，但目前该区域还没有长时间尺度、高分辨率的替代温度数据，可以帮助辨别这些因素在确定十年温度趋势方面的相对影响。这项研究是伍兹霍尔海洋研究所和哥伦比亚大学拉蒙特-多尔蒂地球天文台的科学家合作完成的，将利用活的和亚化石的大西洋白柏树，每年重建一次美国东北部晚全新世的温度。该物种对温度敏感，寿命长，在湿地环境中保存完好。由此重建的结果将被用来描述从年际到千年的时间尺度上区域温度的变化，评估过去1000年的气候模型模拟，并识别内部、偏远和全球强迫对美国东北部气候的特征。该项目为美国东北部最近的季节性极端温度提供了长期背景，特别是沿海岸和高度城市化的波士顿至纽约走廊，那里的高温对公共健康和生态系统有重要影响。资金支持博士和本科生水平的学生研究，以及面向关注环境的地区公民科学家和专业人员的公共宣传。

Over the last century, the northeastern United States has experienced significant warming (~1.1°C), and a number of record high temperatures have been set around the region in recent years. Despite the massive impacts given the dense populations in this region, we do not fully understand the extent to which the trends reflect radiative forcing versus natural decadal-scale variability. Paleoclimate data provide opportunities to observe the climate system at decadal time scales that are not available from instrumental data alone, but there are currently no long-timescale, high-resolution proxy temperature data from this region that might help discern the relative influence of these factors in determining decadal temperature trends. This research-- a collaborative effort between scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University-- will develop annually-resolved reconstructions of late Holocene temperature from the northeastern United States using living and subfossil Atlantic White Cedar trees. This species is temperature-sensitive, long-lived, and well-preserved in wetland environments. The resulting reconstructions will be used to characterize variability in regional temperatures at time scales from interannual to millennial, to evaluate climate model simulations over the last millennium, and identify the signature of internal, remote, and global forcing on the climate of the northeastern United States. The project provides long-term context for recent seasonal temperature extremes in the northeastern United States, and in particular along the coast and the very urbanized Boston-to-New York corridor, where high temperatures have important public health and ecosystem impacts. Funding supports student research at the doctoral and undergraduate level, as well as public outreach to regional citizen scientists and professionals focused on the environment.