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Extraterrestrial confirmation of tree-ring dating

Nature Climate Change volume 4, pages 404–405 (2014)Cite this article

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To the Editor —

Tree-ring-based temperature reconstructions represent the backbone of high-resolution palaeoclimatology by providing useful long-term perspectives on global climate. A recent dispute regarding the potential misdating of ring-width chronologies due to 'missing rings'1,2,3,4,5,6, for trees growing near their thermal distribution limit, has raised questions about the reliability of tree-ring chronologies as annually resolved and absolutely dated climate proxy archives. Consequently, the debate introduces doubt about the validity of tree-ring-based temperature reconstructions. The claim of missing tree rings, caused by exceptional summer cooling following large volcanic eruptions, is based on the experimental results of a cambial growth model, driven by simulated climate variations, which estimates tree growth during intervals of low temperatures4. Although this experiment has been substantially critiqued1,2,3, there has not yet been confirmation of the dating precision in temperature-sensitive ring-width chronologies using non-dendrochronological methods.

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Figure 1: Subfossil wood, radiometric dating and reconstructed temperature.

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Acknowledgements

Loic Schneider and Daniel Nievergelt contributed to lab work. Derek Johnson, Andrew Liebhold and Rob Wilson kindly commented on earlier manuscript versions. Supported by the Czech project 'Building up a multidisciplinary scientific team focused on drought' (No. CZ.1.07/2.3.00/20.0248).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Zucherstrasse 111, Birmensdorf, 8903, Switzerland

    Ulf Büntgen

  2. Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research OCCR, Zähringerstrasse 25, Bern, 3012, Switzerland

    Ulf Büntgen

  3. Global Change Research Centre AS CR, v.v.i., Bělidla 986/4a, Brno, 60300, Czech Republic

    Ulf Büntgen

  4. ETHZ, Laboratory of Ion Beam Physics, HPK, H29, Schafmattstrasse 20, Zürich, 8093, Switzerland

    Lukas Wacker & Dominik Güttler

  5. Institute of Geography, University of Innsbruck, Innrain 52, Innsbruck, 6020, Austria

    Kurt Nicolussi

  6. Division of Hydrologic Sciences, Desert Research Institute, 2215 Raggio Parkway, Reno Nevada, 89512, USA

    Michael Sigl

  7. Institute of Forest Sciences IWW, Albert-Ludwigs University Freiburg, Tennenbacher Str. 4, Freiburg, 79106, Germany

    Willy Tegel

  8. Department of Physical Geography and Quaternary Geology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, 106 91, Sweden

    Paul J. Krusic

  9. Department of Geography, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, 55099, Germany

    Jan Esper

Authors
  1. Ulf Büntgen
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  2. Lukas Wacker
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  3. Kurt Nicolussi
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  4. Michael Sigl
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  5. Dominik Güttler
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  6. Willy Tegel
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  7. Paul J. Krusic
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  8. Jan Esper
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Contributions

U.B. designed the study with input from J.E., L.W., M.S. and W.T. D.G. and L.W. (K.N.) performed Isotopic (dendro) measurements. All authors contributed to discussion and writing.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ulf Büntgen.

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Büntgen, U., Wacker, L., Nicolussi, K. et al. Extraterrestrial confirmation of tree-ring dating. Nature Clim Change 4, 404–405 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2240

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