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A 1,400-year tree-ring record of summer temperatures in Fennoscandia

Nature volume 346, pages 434–439 (1990)Cite this article

Abstract

Tree-ring data have been used to reconstruct the mean summer (April-August) temperature of northern Fennoscandia for each year from AD 500 to the present. Summer temperatures have fluctuated markedly on annual, decadal and century timescales. There is little evidence for the existence of a Medieval Warm Epoch, and the Little Ice Age seems to be confined to the relatively short period between 1570 and 1650. This challenges the popular idea that these events were the major climate excursions of the first millennium, occurring synchronously throughout Europe in all seasons. An analysis of past warming trends suggests that any summer warming induced by greenhouse gases may not be detectable in this region until after 2030.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Climatic Research Unit, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK

    K. R. Briffa & P. D. Jones

  2. Laboratory of Quaternary Biology, University of Lund, Tornavägen 13, S-22363, Lund, Sweden

    T. S. Bartholin

  3. Institute of Wood Biology, University of Hamburg, Leuschnerstrasse 91, D-2050, Hamburg, 80, FRG

    D. Eckstein

  4. Department of Physical Geography, University of Stockholm, S-106 91, Stockholm, Sweden

    W. Karlén

  5. Swiss Federal Institute of Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, Zücherstrasse 11, CH-8903, Birmensdorf, Switzerland

    F. H. Schweingruber

  6. Karelian Institute, Section of Ecology, University of Joensuu, PO Box 111, SF-80101, Joensuu, Finland

    P. Zetterberg

Authors
  1. K. R. Briffa
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  3. D. Eckstein
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  4. P. D. Jones
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  5. W. Karlén
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  6. F. H. Schweingruber
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  7. P. Zetterberg
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Briffa, K., Bartholin, T., Eckstein, D. et al. A 1,400-year tree-ring record of summer temperatures in Fennoscandia. Nature 346, 434–439 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1038/346434a0

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