P2C2: Collaborative Research:Spatiotemporal Variability of Northwestern North American Temperatures in Response to Climatic Forcing

一般来说，该奖项旨在将一种新的分析技术应用于现有和新获得的样本档案中的千年尺度树木年轮数据，以重建与气候强迫的主导模式密切相关的过去温度变率，如太平洋年代际振荡（PDO）。 研究人员瞄准了三个气候敏感地区，在阿拉斯加南部的阿拉斯加湾，阿拉斯加北方的Sukakpak和加拿大西北部（育空地区，不列颠哥伦比亚省，阿尔伯塔）的现有样本档案中可以获得这种长度的树木年轮宽度（RW）记录。由此产生的气候重建将与气候模式输出进行比较，以检查响应气候强迫的时空模式（特别是火山），识别不确定性，并测试关于内部和强迫变化模式的假设。该奖项将使用蓝色强度（BI）参数为这些站点生成一套新颖的最大晚材密度（MXD）年表，其基本上成本较低且劳动密集，但仍保持传统MXD技术的精度和分辨率。对于这一广阔的地区，目前几乎没有基于MXD的亚千年到千年规模的编年史。 研究人员认为，基于活的和亚化石木材材料的生物多样性年表将产生过去极端气候，过去温度趋势和变化，太平洋内部变化的时空表达，以及关于过去一千年北美西北部外部气候强迫的详细信息的强大记录。该研究项目在四个关键方面具有广泛的影响，即：首先，该项目将综合北美西北部气候敏感的树木年轮记录网络，以产生高分辨率，强校准的重建过去的气候变化，从季节内到十年到百年的时间尺度。这些树木气候重建将主要使用现有的数据，将被处理，以提取新的信息，使用新的BI技术，沿着现场温度重建的发展。树木年轮数据将与模型输出和其他代理记录进行比较，并提供给建模社区。这项研究将有助于更广泛地了解地球仪上变化最快的地区之一在过去一千年中气候的长期变化，第二，将把该项目的科学成果存档，并通过国家地球物理数据中心和国际树轮数据库提供给科学界。 第三，研究人员将酌情与阿拉斯加的土著群体接触。在过去，土著人民协会通过让土著人民参与研究，与北方社区进行了广泛的互动，并计划在本项目中继续这样做。 潜在的研究成果可能与当地人口有关，数据和解释将提供给有关社区（社区团体，如北极边疆生态知识合作社，http：//www.taiga.net/coop/index.html）第四，该项目将支持本科生和研究生，作为伍兹霍尔海洋学研究所本科生研究经验方案和伍斯特学院学生方案的一部分。本科生的支持将允许在研究的早期经验。

Generally, this award aims to apply a novel analytical technique to a millennial-scale tree-ring data from existing and newly-obtained sample archives to yield reconstructions of past temperature variability closely linked to dominant modes of climatic forcing, such as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO). The researchers are targeting three climatically-sensitive regions where tree-ring width (RW) records of this length are available in existing sample archives from the Gulf of Alaska in southern Alaska, Sukakpak in northern Alaska, and northwestern Canada (Yukon, British Columbia, Alberta). The resulting climate reconstructions will be compared with climate model outputs to examine spatiotemporal patterns in response to climate forcing (particularly volcanoes), identify uncertainties, and test hypotheses regarding internal and forced modes of variability.This award will generate a suite of novel, maximum latewood density (MXD) chronologies for these sites using the Blue Intensity (BI) parameter, which is substantially less costly and labor intensive yet retains the accuracy and resolution of traditional MXD techniques. There are few sub-millennial to millennial scale MXD-based chronologies currently existing for this vast region. The researchers argue that the resulting BI chronologies, based on living and subfossil wood material, will yield robust records of past climatic extremes, trends and shifts in past temperature, spatiotemporal expressions of internal Pacific variability, as well as details regarding the external climate forcing over northwestern North America for the past millennium. The research project has broad impact in four key aspects, namely:First, this project will synthesize a network of climatically-sensitive tree-ring records from across northwestern North America to yield high-resolution, strongly calibrated reconstructions on past climate variability from intra-seasonal to Decadal to Centennial time scales. These dendroclimatic reconstructions will mainly be developed using existing data that will be processed to extract new information using the new BI technique, along with the development of field temperature reconstructions. Tree-ring data will be compared to model output and other proxy records and made available to the modeling community. This research will help advance a broader understanding of the long-term variability of climate over the past millennium for one of the most rapidly changing regions of the globe.Second, scientific results from the project will be archived and provided to the scientific community through the National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) and International Tree-Ring Data Bank (ITRDB). Third, as appropriate, the researchers will engage with native groups in Alaska. In the past, the PIs have interacted extensively with northern communities by involving native peoples in research and plan to continue to do so for this project. The potential research outcomes could have relevance to native populations and the data and interpretations will be available to relevant communities (community groups, e.g. Arctic Borderlands Ecological Knowledge Cooperative, http://www.taiga.net/coop/index.html).Fourth, the project will support undergraduate and graduate students as part of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program and the student program at The College of Wooster. The support of undergraduate students would allow for an early experience in research.