Interrogating trees as archives of environmental sulphur variability

探究树木作为环境硫变异的档案

• 批准号: NE/H012257/1
• 负责人: Peter Wynn
• 金额: $ 5.2万
• 依托单位: Lancaster University
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2010 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=NE%2FH012257%2F1
• 关键词: Interrogating; trees; archives; environmental; sulphur

'Give me a tree and I'll read climate history' is the basic premise of dendrochronology, and to a large extent is perfectly true. Each ring within a tree represents one year of growth and contains within it a record of the prevailing environmental conditions. Trees can thus be age dated, and used as a record of climate change through ring-width analysis and chemical composition. However, chemical interpretations of the nutrient chemistry within each ring have often been subject to much criticism. The basic premise that nutrients which are taken up by the tree are encapsulated to represent environmental conditions for that particular year, is true only for elements which are immobilised from further biological transport accross the width of the tree. We now think we have found such an element which is fixed within the woody tissues during growth and can be used with certainty for environmental reconstruction - this element is sulphur. That sulphur should be the element which is fixed within the annual growth rings is fortuitous given its key role in modulating climate and fantastic potential as an environmental diagnostic tool. The injection of sulphur aerosol into the atmosphere is a key determinant of climate through backscattering and absorption of radiation, and has long been a concern for terrestrial ecology, causing widespread acidification of catchments upon deposition. Two of the key sources of sulphur aerosol injected into the atmosphere are from volcanic and industrial emissions. Both sources can be readily distinguished from background inputs using concentrations and stable isotopes, rendering the sulphur isotopic content of palaeoarchives to be perhaps one of the most important diagnostic elemental signatures available. Whilst the sulphur isotopic content of ice cores has been extensively exploited, the more localised archives such as speleothems and tree rings have largely remained beyond the reach of climate change scientists and we have yet to discover many of the secrets they harbour. Whilst we have initiated and had excellent success with extracting the sulphur record from speleothems, we believe trees will behave as a much more sensitive, readily available record of local atmospheric change over the past millenium. We believe we are now in a position to conduct an intensive research programme to extract the sulphur isotopic composition of trees and forge ahead with the development of such an important local indicator of sulphur forcing and atmospheric change.

“给我一棵树，我就能读懂气候历史”是树木年代学的基本前提，并且在很大程度上是完全正确的。树中的每个年轮代表一年的生长，并包含当时环境条件的记录。因此，可以测定树木的年龄，并通过环宽分析和化学成分作为气候变化的记录。然而，每个环内营养化学的化学解释经常受到很多批评。树木吸收的养分被封装以代表该特定年份的环境条件的基本前提仅适用于在树木宽度上进一步生物运输而固定的元素。现在我们认为我们已经找到了这样一种元素，它在生长过程中固定在木质组织内，并且可以肯定地用于环境重建——这种元素就是硫。鉴于硫在调节气候方面的关键作用以及作为环境诊断工具的巨大潜力，硫应该成为年轮中固定的元素是偶然的。硫气溶胶通过反向散射和吸收辐射进入大气，是气候的关键决定因素，长期以来一直是陆地生态学的关注点，沉积后会导致流域广泛酸化。注入大气中的硫气溶胶的两个主要来源是火山排放和工业排放。使用浓度和稳定同位素可以很容易地将这两种来源与背景输入区分开来，使得古档案的硫同位素含量可能成为可用的最重要的诊断元素特征之一。虽然冰芯的硫同位素含量已被广泛开发，但洞穴和树木年轮等更本地化的档案在很大程度上仍然超出了气候变化科学家的能力范围，我们尚未发现它们所隐藏的许多秘密。虽然我们已经开始从洞穴中提取硫记录并取得了巨大成功，但我们相信树木将成为过去千年当地大气变化的更敏感、更容易获得的记录。我们相信，我们现在能够开展一项深入的研究计划，以提取树木的硫同位素组成，并推动硫强迫和大气变化这一重要的当地指标的开发。

项目成果

Interrogating trees for isotopic archives of atmospheric sulphur deposition and comparison to speleothem records.

• DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2013.12.017
• 发表时间: 2014-04
• 期刊: Environmental pollution
• 影响因子: 8.9
• 作者: P. M. Wynn;N. Loader;I. J. Fairchild

Twentieth-century summer temperature variability in the southern Altai Mountains: A carbon and oxygen isotope study of tree-rings

• DOI: 10.1177/0959683610369507
• 发表时间: 2010-11
• 期刊: The Holocene
• 作者: N. Loader;G. Helle;S. Los;F. Lehmkuhl;G. Schleser