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

在上个世纪，美国东北部经历了显著的变暖（~1.1°C），近年来该地区出现了多个创纪录的高温。尽管考虑到该地区人口稠密的巨大影响，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变率。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，这是单靠仪器数据无法获得的，但目前还没有来自该地区的长时间尺度、高分辨率的代用温度数据，这些数据可能有助于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-多尔蒂地球观测站的科学家之间的合作，将利用活的和亚化石大西洋白色雪松树，对美国东北部晚全新世温度进行年度分辨率重建。该物种对温度敏感，寿命长，在湿地环境中保存良好。由此产生的重建将被用来表征区域温度的变化在时间尺度从年际到千年，评估气候模型模拟在过去的千年，并确定内部，远程和全球强迫对美国东北部气候的签名。该项目提供了美国东北部最近季节性极端温度的长期背景，特别是沿着海岸和高度城市化的波士顿至纽约走廊，高温对公共卫生和生态系统产生重要影响。资金支持博士和本科生的研究，以及对区域公民科学家和专注于环境的专业人士的公共宣传。

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.