The increasingly visible impact of climatic variability on human affairs lends a sense of urgency to the task of better understanding the workings of the Earth's climatic system. Actual instrumental observations of climate are relatively short, and we must therefore turn to other sources for information about past climates to help develop and test the models that may enable us to predict climatic anomalies such as prolonged droughts or a series of severe winters. Tree -rings are one of the best sources of climatic proxy information. They can provide long, accurately dated, year-by-year records at many points around the globe, and bridge the gap between recent instrumental or historical data and the longer but more generalised geological records. Variations in the width of annual rings reflect the influence of climatic factors that limit the biological processes governing ring formation within a tree. Study of reconstructions of long records of a variety of climatic and related variables, such as temperature, precipitation, stream runoff and barometric pressure over periods of several hundred to several thousand years strongly suggests that the climate of the past century or so is not representative of the conditions that have frequently prevailed over long periods. Proxy records are thus a great help in our efforts to anticipate or predict future climate, which may be significantly different from the recent climatic past.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
US Committee for the Global Atmospheric Research Program Understanding Climatic Change (NAS, Washington, 1975).
Panel on Water and Climate Climate, Climatic Change, and Water Supply (NAS, Washington, 1977).
US natn.Acad. Sci. Climate and Food: Climatic Fluctuation and US Agricultural Production (Washington, 1976).
Report of a Committee on Climatic Change (AAS Rep. No. 21, Canberra, 1976).
Living with Climatic Change, Phase II (Science Council of Canada, Ottawa, 1976).
WMO/ICSU, GARP Organizing Committee The Physical Basis of Climate and Climate Modelling (GARP Publ.Ser. 16, WMO, Geneva, 1975).
Kutzbach, J. E. in The Physical Basis of Climate and Climate Modelling Appendix 1.3 (WMO/ICSU Joint Organizing Committee, GARP Pub. Ser. 16, WMO, Geneva, 1975).
Libby, L. M. et al. Nature 261, 284–288 (1976).
Epstein, S. & Yapp, C. J. Earth planet. Sci. Lett. 30, 252–261 (1976).
Pearman, G. I., Francey, R. J. & Fraser, P. J. B. Nature 260, 771–773 (1976).
Gray, J. & Thompson, P. Nature 262, 481–482 (1976).
Wilson, A. T. & Grinstead, M. J. Nature 265, 133–135 (1977).
Lerman, J. C. & Long, A. short Papers of the 4th Int. Conf. on Geochronology, Cosmochronology and Isotope Geology (ed. Zartman, R. E.) 78–101 (US Geol. Survey Open-File Rep., 1978).
Long, A., Lerman, J. C. & Ferhi, A. Short Papers of the 4th Int. Conf. on Geochronology, Cosmochronology and Isotope Geology (ed. Zartman, R. E.) 78–701 (US Geol. Survey Open-File Rep., 1978).
Polge, H. & Nicholls, J. W. P. Wood Sci. 5, 51–59 (1972).
Parker, M. L. Syesis 9, 163–172 (1976).
Engel, M. H., Zumberge, J. E. & Nagy, B. Analyt. Biochem. 82, 415–422 (1977).
Fritts, H. C. Tree Rings and Climate (Academic, London, 1976).
Creber, G. T. Biol. Rev. 52, 349–383 (1978).
Hughes, M. New Scient. 77, 500–502 (1978).
Hughes, M. K., Gray, B., Pilcher, J., Baillie, M. & Leggett, P. Nature 272, 605–606 (1978).
Brett, D. W. Weather 33, 87–94 (1978).
Eckstein, D. Tree-Ring Bull. 32, 1–18 (1972).
Munaut, A. V. Lejeunia 91, 1–47 (1978).
Cook, E. R. & Jacoby, G. C. Science 198, 399–401 (1977).
LaMarche, V. C. Jr Proc. WMO/IAMAP Symp. Long-Term Clim. Fluct. 21–30 (WMO, Geneva, 1975).
Ogden, J. Aust. J. Ecol. (in the press).
Dunwiddie, P. N. Z. J. Bot. (in the press).
Fritts, H. C., Blasing, T. J., Hayden, B. P. & Kutzbach, J. E. J. appl. Met. 10, 845–864 (1971).
Lamb, H. H. in Polar Meteorology, WMO Tech. Note 87, 428–453 (WMO, Geneva, 1967).
Fritts, H. C. Mon. Weath. Rev. 93, 421–443 (1965).
LaMarche, V. C. Jr & Fritts, H. C. Mon. Weath. Rev. 99, 138–142 (1971).
LaMarche, V. C. Jr & Stockton, C. W. Tree-Ring Bull. 34, 21–45 (1974).
Stockton, C. W. Long-Term Streamflow Records Reconstructed From Tree Rings, Pap. Lab. Tree-Ring Research No. 5 (University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 1975).
Holmes, R. L., Stockton, C. W. & LaMarche, V. C. Jr Water Res. Bull. (in the press).
LaMarche, V. C. Jr Science 183, 1043–1048 (1974).
Denton, G. H. & Karlén, W. Quatern. Res. 3, 155–205 (1973).
LaMarche, V. C. Jr, Quatern. Res. 3, 632–660 (1973).
Blasing, T. J. & Fritts, H. C. Quatern. Res. 6, 563–580 (1976).
Fritts, H. C. & Lofgren, G. R. Quatern. Res. (submitted).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
LaMarche, V. Tree-ring evidence of past climatic variability. Nature 276, 334–338 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1038/276334a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/276334a0
This article is cited by
-
Aridity changes in the Temperate-Mediterranean transition of the Andes since ad 1346 reconstructed from tree-rings
Climate Dynamics (2011)
-
Reconstruction of summer temperature variation from maximum density of alpine pine during 1917–2002 for west Sichuan Plateau, China
Journal of Geographical Sciences (2008)
-
Antarctic glacial retreats and the records of sea level change in deposits at the north bank of the Shenzhen Bay, South China
Chinese Journal of Geochemistry (1997)
-
Mercury concentration in tree rings of black spruce (Picea mariana Mill. B.S.P.) in boreal Quebec, Canada
Water, Air, & Soil Pollution (1995)
-
A documentary-derived climatic chronology for South Africa, 1820?1900
Climatic Change (1989)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.
