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（~1.1°C），近年来该地区周围出现了许多创纪录的高温。尽管由于该地区人口稠密而受到巨大影响，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年代际变率。古气候数据提供了在年代际尺度上观测气候系统的机会，这是单独从仪器数据无法获得的，但目前没有来自该地区的长时间尺度、高分辨率的代用温度数据，可能有助于辨别这些因素在确定年代际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们共同努力的成果，将利用美国东北部的活的和亚化石的大西洋白杉树，开发出每年一次的全新世晚期温度重建。该物种对温度敏感，寿命长，在湿地环境中保存完好。重建结果将用于表征从年际到千年的时间尺度上的区域温度变化，评估过去千年的气候模式模拟，并确定美国东北部气候的内部、远程和全球强迫特征。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，特别是沿海岸和非常城市化的波士顿到纽约走廊，高温对公共卫生和生态系统有重要影响。资金支持博士生和本科生的研究，以及向关注环境的地区公民科学家和专业人士进行公共宣传。

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.