Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-ndmmz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-16T04:40:51.967Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A 2000-yr reconstruction of air temperature in the Great Basin of the United States with specific reference to the Medieval Climatic Anomaly

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Scott A. Reinemann ,
David F. Porinchu ,
Glen M. MacDonald ,
Bryan G. Mark  and
James Q. DeGrand
Scott A. Reinemann*
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
David F. Porinchu
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA
Glen M. MacDonald
Affiliation:
Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA Department of Geography, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
Bryan G. Mark
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
James Q. DeGrand
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail address:reinemann.2@osu.edu (S.A. Reinemann).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A sediment core representing the past two millennia was recovered from Stella Lake in the Snake Range of the central Great Basin in Nevada. The core was analyzed for sub-fossil chironomids and sediment organic content. A quantitative reconstruction of mean July air temperature (MJAT) was developed using a regional training set and a chironomid-based WA-PLS inference model (r2jack = 0.55, RMSEP = 0.9°C). The chironomid-based MJAT reconstruction suggests that the interval between AD 900 and AD 1300, corresponding to the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA), was characterized by MJAT elevated 1.0°C above the subsequent Little Ice Age (LIA), but likely not as warm as recent conditions. Comparison of the Stella Lake temperature reconstruction to previously published paleoclimate records from this region indicates that the temperature fluctuations inferred to have occurred at Stella Lake between AD 900 and AD 1300 correspond to regional records documenting hydroclimate variability during the MCA interval. The Stella Lake record provides evidence that elevated summer temperature contributed to the increased aridity that characterized the western United States during the MCA.

Keywords

Medieval Climate AnomalyLittle Ice AgePaleoclimateChironomidsMidgesTemperatureGreat BasinSub-alpine
Type
Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 82 , Issue 2 , September 2014 , pp. 309 - 317
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Asmerom, Y., Polyak, V., Burns, S., and Rassmussen, J. Solar forcing of Holocene climate: new insights from a speleothem record, southwestern United States. Geology 35, (2007). 1–4.Google Scholar
Barnett, T.P., Pierce, D.W., Hidalgo, H.G., Bonfils, C., Santer, B.D., Das, T., Bala, G., Wood, A.W., Nozawa, T., Mirin, A.A., Cayan, D.R., and Dettinger, M.D. Human-induced changes in the hydrology of the western United States. Science 319, (2008). 1080–1083.Google Scholar
Barron, J.A., Bukry, D., and Field, D. Santa Barbara Basin diatom and silicoflagellate response to global climate anomalies during the past 2200 years. Quaternary International 215, (2010). 34–44.Google Scholar
Bennett, K.D. Determination of the number of zones in a biostratigraphical sequence. New Phytologist 132, (1996). 155–170.Google Scholar
Birks, H.J.B. D.G. Frey & E.S. Deevey review #1 — numerical tools in palaeolimnology — progress, potentialities, and problems. Journal of Paleolimnology 20, (1998). 307–332.Google Scholar
Blaauw, M., and Christen, J.A. Flexible paleoclimate age-depth models using an autoregressive gamma process. Bayesian Analysis 6, (2011). 457–474.Google Scholar
Bowerman, N.D., and Clark, D.H. Holocene glaciation of the central Sierra Nevada, California. Quaternary Science Reviews 30, (2011). 1067–1085.Google Scholar
Bradley, R.S., Keimig, F.T., and Diaz, H.F. Projected temperature changes along the American cordillera and the planned GCOS network. Geophysical Research Letters 31, (2004). Google Scholar
Brooks, S.J., Langdon, P.G., and Heiri, O. The identification and use of Palaearctic Chironomidae larvae in palaeoecology. QRA Technical Guide No. 10. (2007). Quaternary Research Association, London.Google Scholar
Cayan, D.R., Das, T., Pierce, D.W., Barnett, T.P., Tyree, M., and Gershunov, A. Future dryness in the southwest US and the hydrology of the early 21st century drought. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107, (2010). 21271–21276.Google Scholar
Christen, J.A., and Fox, C. A general purpose sampling algorithm for continuous distributions (the t-walk). Bayesian Analysis 5, (2010). 263–281.Google Scholar
Christiansen, B., and Ljungqvist, F.C. The extra-tropical Northern Hemisphere temperature in the last two millennia: reconstructions of low-frequency variability. Climate of the Past 8, (2012). 765–786.Google Scholar
Conroy, J.L., Overpeck, J.T., Cole, J.E., and Steinitz-Kannan, M. Variable oceanic influences on western North American drought over the last 1200 years. Geophysical Research Letters 36, (2009). 6 Google Scholar
Cook, E.R., Woodhouse, C.A., Eakin, C.M., Meko, D.M., and Stahle, D.W. Long-term aridity changes in the western United States. Science 306, (2004). 1015–1018.Google Scholar
Cook, E.R., Seager, R., Heim, R.R., Vose, R.S., Herweijer, C., and Woodhouse, C. Megadroughts in North America: placing IPCC projections of hydroclimatic change in a long-term palaeoclimate context. Journal of Quaternary Science 25, (2010). 48–61.Google Scholar
Diaz, H.F., Trigo, R., Hughes, M.K., Mann, M.E., Xoplaki, E., and Barriopedro, D. Spatial and temporal characteristics of climate in Medieval Times revisited. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 92, (2011). 1487 Google Scholar
Graham, N.E., and Hughes, M.K. Reconstructing the Mediaeval low stands of Mono Lake, Sierra Nevada, California, USA. Holocene 17, (2007). 1197–1210.Google Scholar
Heiri, O., and Lotter, A.F. Effect of low count sums on quantitative environmental reconstructions: an example using subfossil chironomids. Journal of Paleolimnology 26, (2001). 343–350.Google Scholar
Heiri, O., Lotter, A.F., and Lemcke, G. Loss on ignition as a method for estimating organic and carbonate content in sediments: reproducibility and comparability of results. Journal of Paleolimnology 25, (2001). 101–110.Google Scholar
Hill, M.O. Diversity and Evenness: a Unifying Notation and Consequences. Ecology 54, (1973). 427–432.Google Scholar
Houghton, J.G., Sakamoto, C.M., and Gifford, R.O. Nevada's weather and climate. (1975). Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology, Mackay School of Mines, University of Nevada, Reno.Google Scholar
Hughes, M.K., and Diaz, H.F. Was there a Medieval warm period, and if so, where and when?. Climatic Change 26, (1994). 109–142.Google Scholar
Juggins, S. Zone-Version 1.2. (1992). Google Scholar
Juggins, S. Program C2 Data Analysis. (2003). Google Scholar
Knight, T.A., Meko, D.M., and Baisan, C.H. A bimillennial-length tree-ring reconstruction of precipitation for the Tavaputs Plateau, Northeastern Utah. Quaternary Research 73, (2010). 107–117.Google Scholar
Koster, R.D., Wang, H.L., Schubert, S.D., Suarez, M.J., and Mahanama, S. Drought-induced warming in the continental United States under different SST regimes. Journal of Climate 22, (2009). 5385–5400.Google Scholar
Louderback, L.A., and Rhode, D.E. 15,000 years of vegetation change in the Bonneville basin: the Blue Lake pollen record. Quaternary Science Reviews 28, (2009). 308–326.Google Scholar
MacDonald, G.M. Severe and sustained drought in southern California and the West: present conditions and insights from the past on causes and impacts. Quaternary International 173, (2007). 87–100.Google Scholar
MacDonald, G.M. Water, climate change, and sustainability in the southwest. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107, (2010). 21256–21262.Google Scholar
MacDonald, G.M., and Case, R.A. Variations in the Pacific Decadal Oscillation over the past millennium. Geophysical Research Letters 32, (2005). 4 Google Scholar
Mann, M.E., Zhang, Z.H., Hughes, M.K., Bradley, R.S., Miller, S.K., Rutherford, S., and Ni, F.B. Proxy-based reconstructions of hemispheric and global surface temperature variations over the past two millennia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 105, (2008). 13252–13257.Google Scholar
Mann, M.E., Zhang, Z., Rutherford, S., Bradley, R.S., Hughes, M.K., Shindell, D., Ammann, C., Faluvegi, G., and Ni, F. Global signatures and dynamical origins of the Little Ice Age and Medieval Climate Anomaly. Science 326, (2009). 1256–1260.Google Scholar
Mensing, S., Smith, J., Norman, K.B., and Allan, M. Extended drought in the Great Basin of western North America in the last two millennia reconstructed from pollen records. Quaternary International 188, (2008). 79–89.Google Scholar
Moberg, A., Sonechkin, D.M., Holmgren, K., Datsenko, N.M., and Karlen, W. Highly variable Northern Hemisphere temperatures reconstructed from low- and high-resolution proxy data. Nature 433, (2005). 613–617.Google Scholar
Mock, C.J. Climatic controls and spatial variations of precipitation in the western United States. Journal of Climate 9, (1996). 1111–1125.Google Scholar
Mock, C.J., and Brunelle-Daines, A.R. A modern analogue of western United States summer palaeoclimate at 6000 years before present. Holocene 9, (1999). 541–545.Google Scholar
Moinuddin, A., Anchukaitis, K.J., Asrat, A., Borgaonkar, H.P., Braida, M. et al. Continental-scale temperature variability during the past two millennia. Nature Geoscience 6, (2013). 339–346. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1797Google Scholar
Osborn, G., and Bevis, K. Glaciation in the Great Basin of the Western United States. Quaternary Science Reviews 20, (2001). 1377–1410.Google Scholar
Poore, R.Z., Pavich, M.J., and Grissino-Mayer, H.D. Record of the North American southwest monsoon from Gulf of Mexico sediment cores. Geology 33, (2005). 209–212.Google Scholar
Porinchu, D.F., Moser, K.A., and Munroe, J.S. Development of a midge-based summer surface water temperature inference model for the Great Basin of the western United States. Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research 39, (2007). 566–577.Google Scholar
Porinchu, D.F., Reinemann, S., Mark, B.G., Box, J.E., and Rolland, N. Application of a midge-based inference model for air temperature reveals evidence of late-20th century warming in sub-alpine lakes in the central Great Basin, United States. Quaternary International 215, (2010). 15–26.Google Scholar
Prentice, I.C. Multidimensional-scaling as a research tool in quaternary palynology — a review of theory and methods. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 31, (1980). 71–104.Google Scholar
Quinlan, R., and Smol, J.P. Setting minimum head capsule abundance and taxa deletion criteria in chironomid-based inference models. Journal of Paleolimnology 26, (2001). 327–342.Google Scholar
Reimer, P.J., Baillie, M.G., Bard, E., Bayliss, A., Beck, J.W., Blackwell, P.G., Ramsey, C.B., Buck, C.E., Burr, G.S., Edwards, R.L. et al. IntCal09 and Marine09 radiocarbon age calibration curves, 0–50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 51, (2009). 1111–1150.Google Scholar
Reinemann, S.A., Porinchu, D.F., Bloom, A.M., Mark, B.G., and Box, J.E. A multi-proxy paleolimnological reconstruction of Holocene climate conditions in the Great Basin, United States. Quaternary Research 72, (2009). 347–358.Google Scholar
Reinemann, S.A., Patrick, N.A., Baker, G.M., Porinchu, D.F., Mark, B.G., and Box, J.E. Climate change in Great Basin National Park: lake sediment and sensor-based studies. Park Science 28, (2011). 31–35.Google Scholar
Reinemann, S.A., Porinchu, D.F., and Mark, B.G. Regional climate change evidenced by recent shifts in chironomid community composition in sub-alpine and alpine lakes in the Great Basin of the United States. Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research (2014). (in press) Google Scholar
Routson, C.C., Woodhouse, C.A., and Overpeck, J.T. Second century megadrought in the Rio Grande headwaters, Colorado: how unusual was medieval drought?. Geophysical Research Letters 38, (2011). 5 Google Scholar
Salzer, M.W., Hughes, M.K., Bunn, A.G., and Kipfmueller, K.F. Recent unprecedented tree-ring growth in bristlecone pine at the highest elevations and possible causes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 106, (2009). 20348–20353.Google Scholar
Salzer, M.W., Bunn, A.G., Graham, N.E., and Hughes, M.K. Five millennia of paleotemperature from tree-rings in the Great Basin, USA. Climate Dynamics 42, (2014). 1517–1526.Google Scholar
Seager, R., Ting, M.F., Held, I., Kushnir, Y., Lu, J., Vecchi, G., Huang, H.P., Harnik, N., Leetmaa, A., Lau, N.C., Li, C.H., Velez, J., and Naik, N. Model projections of an imminent transition to a more arid climate in southwestern North America. Science 316, (2007). 1181–1184.Google Scholar
Seager, R., Graham, N., Herweijer, C., Gordon, A.L., Kushnir, Y., and Cook, E. Blueprints for Medieval hydroclimate. Quaternary Science Reviews 26, (2007). 2322–2336.Google Scholar
Seager, R., Burgman, R., Kushnir, Y., Clement, A., Cook, E., Naik, N., and Miller, J. Tropical pacific forcing of North American Medieval megadroughts: testing the concept with an atmosphere model forced by coral-reconstructed SSTs. Journal of Climate 21, (2008). 6175–6190.Google Scholar
Shinker, J.J., and Bartlein, P.J. Spatial variations of effective moisture in the western United States. Geophysical Research Letters 37, (2010). 5 Google Scholar
Stevens, M.B., Gonzalez-Rouco, J.F., and Beltrami, H. North American climate of the last millennium: underground temperatures and model comparison. Journal of Geophysical Research - Earth Surface 113, (2008). 15 Google Scholar
Stine, S. Extreme and persistent drought in California and Patagonia during the Medieval time. Nature 369, (1994). 546–549.Google Scholar
Tausch, R.J., Nowak, C.L., and Mensing, S.A. Climate change and associated vegetation dynamics during the Holocene: the paleoecological record. Chambers, Jeanne C. Great Basin Riparian Areas: Ecology, Management, and Restoration. (2004). 24–48.Google Scholar
Telford, R.J., and Birks, H.J.B. A novel method for assessing the statistical significance of quantitative reconstructions inferred from biotic assemblages. Quaternary Science Reviews 30, (2011). 1272–1278.Google Scholar
ter Braak, C.J.F., and Šmilauer, P. Canoco Reference Manual and CanoDraw for Windows User's Guide: Software for Canonical Community Ordination (Version 4.5). (2002). Microcomputer Power, Ithaca, New York.Google Scholar
Thompson, R.S., Whitlock, C., Bartlein, P.J., Harrison, S.P., and Spaulding, W.G. Climatic changes in the Western United States since 18,000 yr B.P. Wright, H.E. Global Climates Since the Last Glacial Maximum. (1993). 468–513.Google Scholar
Walker, I.R. Midges: Chironomids and related Diptera. Smol, J.P. Tracking environmental change using lake sediments. Zoological Indicators vol. 4, (2001). Google Scholar
Wayne, J.W. Paleoclimatic inferences from relict cryogenic features in alpine regions. Permafrost: Fourth International Conference. (1983). 1378–1383.Google Scholar
Weiss, J.L., Castro, C.L., and Overpeck, J.T. Distinguishing pronounced droughts in the Southwestern United States: seasonality and effects of warmer temperatures. Journal of Climate 22, (2009). 5918–5932.Google Scholar
Weiss, J.L., Overpeck, J.T., and Cole, J.E. Warmer Let to Drier: Dissecting the 2011 Drought in the Southern U.S. Southwest Climate Outlook 11, 3–4. http://www.climas.arizona.edu/feature-articles/march-2012 (2012). Google Scholar
Westerling, A.L., Hidalgo, H.G., Cayan, D.R., and Swetnam, T.W. Warming and earlier spring increase western US forest wildfire activity. Science 313, (2006). 940–943.Google Scholar
Whitebread, D.H. Geologic map of the Wheeler Peak and Garrison quadrangles, Nevada and Utah. (1969). Google Scholar
Williams, A.P., Allen, C.D., Millar, C.I., Swetnam, T.W., Michaelsen, J., Still, C.J., and Leavitt, S.W. Forest responses to increasing aridity and warmth in the southwestern United States. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107, (2010). 21289–21294.Google Scholar
Wise, E.K. Spatiotemporal variability of the precipitation dipole transition zone in the western United States. Geophysical Research Letters 37, (2010). L07706 Google Scholar
Wise, E.K. Hydroclimatology of the US Intermountain West. Progress in Physical Geography 36, (2012). 458–479.Google Scholar
Woodhouse, C.A., Meko, D.M., MacDonald, G.M., Stahle, D.W., and Cook, E.R. A 1,200-year perspective of 21st century drought in southwestern North America. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107, (2010). 21283–21288.Google Scholar
WRCC Western Regional Climate Center. http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/ (2008). Google Scholar