An international team including scientists from Johannes Gutenberg
University Mainz (JGU) has published a reconstruction of the climate in
northern Europe over the last 2,000 years based on the information
provided by tree-rings. Professor Dr. Jan Esper's group at the Institute
of Geography at JGU used tree-ring density measurements from sub-fossil
pine trees originating from Finnish Lapland to produce a reconstruction
reaching back to 138 BC. In so doing, the researchers have been able
for the first time to precisely demonstrate that the long-term trend
over the past two millennia has been towards climatic cooling. "We found
that previous estimates of historical temperatures during the Roman era
and the Middle Ages were too low," says Esper. "Such findings are also
significant with regard to climate policy, as they will influence the
way today's climate changes are seen in context of historical warm
periods." The new study has been published in the journal Nature Climate Change.
Was the climate during Roman and Medieval times warmer than today? And why are these earlier warm periods important when assessing the global climate changes we are experiencing today? The discipline of paleoclimatology attempts to answer such questions. Scientists analyze indirect evidence of climate variability, such as ice cores and ocean sediments, and so reconstruct the climate of the past. The annual growth rings in trees are the most important witnesses over the past 1,000 to 2,000 years as they indicate how warm and cool past climate conditions were.
Researchers from Germany, Finland, Scotland, and Switzerland examined tree-ring density profiles in trees from Finnish Lapland. In this cold environment, trees often collapse into one of the numerous lakes, where they remain well preserved for thousands of years.
Read more: http://www.uni-mainz.de/eng/15491.php
Was the climate during Roman and Medieval times warmer than today? And why are these earlier warm periods important when assessing the global climate changes we are experiencing today? The discipline of paleoclimatology attempts to answer such questions. Scientists analyze indirect evidence of climate variability, such as ice cores and ocean sediments, and so reconstruct the climate of the past. The annual growth rings in trees are the most important witnesses over the past 1,000 to 2,000 years as they indicate how warm and cool past climate conditions were.
Researchers from Germany, Finland, Scotland, and Switzerland examined tree-ring density profiles in trees from Finnish Lapland. In this cold environment, trees often collapse into one of the numerous lakes, where they remain well preserved for thousands of years.
Read more: http://www.uni-mainz.de/eng/15491.php
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