Climatic history of the northeastern United States during the past 3000 years

Jennifer R. Marlon, Neil Pederson, Connor Nolan, Simon Goring, Bryan Shuman, Ann Robertson, Robert Booth, Patrick J. Bartlein, Melissa A. Berke, Michael Clifford, Edward Cook, Ann Dieffenbacher-Krall, Michael C. Dietze, Amy Hessl, J. Bradford Hubeny, Stephen T. Jackson, Jeremiah Marsicek, Jason McLachlan, Cary J. Mock, David J.P. MooreJonathan Nichols, Dorothy Peteet, Kevin Schaefer, Valerie Trouet, Charles Umbanhowar, John W. Williams, Zicheng Yu

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

32 Scopus citations

Abstract

Many ecosystem processes that influence Earth system feedbacks - vegetation growth, water and nutrient cycling, disturbance regimes - are strongly influenced by multidecadal- to millennial-scale climate variations that cannot be directly observed. Paleoclimate records provide information about these variations, forming the basis of our understanding and modeling of them. Fossil pollen records are abundant in the NE US, but cannot simultaneously provide information about paleoclimate and past vegetation in a modeling context because this leads to circular logic. If pollen data are used to constrain past vegetation changes, then the remaining paleoclimate archives in the northeastern US (NE US) are quite limited. Nonetheless, a growing number of diverse reconstructions have been developed but have not yet been examined together. Here we conduct a systematic review, assessment, and comparison of paleotemperature and paleohydrological proxies from the NE US for the last 3000 years. Regional temperature reconstructions (primarily summer) show a long-term cooling trend (1000 BCE-1700 CE) consistent with hemispheric-scale reconstructions, while hydroclimate data show gradually wetter conditions through the present day. Multiple proxies suggest that a prolonged, widespread drought occurred between 550 and 750 CE. Dry conditions are also evident during the Medieval Climate Anomaly, which was warmer and drier than the Little Ice Age and drier than today. There is some evidence for an acceleration of the longer-term wetting trend in the NE US during the past century; coupled with an abrupt shift from decreasing to increasing temperatures in the past century, these changes could have wide-ranging implications for species distributions, ecosystem dynamics, and extreme weather events. More work is needed to gather paleoclimate data in the NE US to make inter-proxy comparisons and to improve estimates of uncertainty in reconstructions.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1355-1379
Number of pages25
JournalClimate of the Past
Volume13
Issue number10
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 13 2017

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Acknowledgements. We thank Matthew Montanaro for assistance with data analysis. This work was supported by NSF grant EF-1065732 to Stephen T. Jackson, John W. Williams, and Jennifer R. Marlon and by NSF grant EF-1241870 to Jennifer R. Marlon, Neil Pederson, Robert Booth, Stephen T. Jackson, Jennifer R. Marlon, David J. P. Moore, and John W. Williams. Neil Pederson was supported by NSF grant AGS-1304262. Jennifer R. Marlon was supported by NSF grant BCS-1437074.

Publisher Copyright:
© Author(s) 2017.

Copyright:
Copyright 2017 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

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