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Climate Change and Human Health Literature Portal Filling the Eastern European gap in millennium-long temperature reconstructions

Climate Change and Human Health Literature Portal

Buntgen U, Kyncl T, Ginzler C, Jacks DS, Esper J, Tegel W, Heussner KU, Kyncl J
2013
Proceedings of The National Academy of Sciences of The United States of America. 110 (5): 1773-1778

Tree ring-based temperature reconstructions form the scientific backbone of the current global change debate. Although some European records extend into medieval times, high-resolution, long-term, regional-scale paleoclimatic evidence is missing for the eastern part of the continent. Here we compile 545 samples of living trees and historical timbers from the greater Tatra region to reconstruct interannual to centennial-long variations in Eastern European May-June temperature back to 1040 AD. Recent anthropogenic warming exceeds the range of past natural climate variability. Increased plague outbreaks and political conflicts, as well as decreased settlement activities, coincided with temperature depressions. The Black Death in the mid-14th century, the Thirty Years War in the early 17th century, and the French Invasion of Russia in the early 19th century all occurred during the coldest episodes of the last millennium. A comparison with summer temperature reconstructions from Scandinavia, the Alps, and the Pyrenees emphasizes the seasonal and spatial specificity of our results, questioning those large-scale reconstructions that simply average individual sites.

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Resource Description

    Food Security, Human Conflict/Displacement, Solar Radiation, Temperature
    • Food Security, Human Conflict/Displacement, Solar Radiation, Temperature: Crop/Plant Food Security
    • Food Security, Human Conflict/Displacement, Solar Radiation, Temperature: Variability
    General Geographic Feature
    Non-United States
    • Non-United States: Europe
    General Health Impact, Infectious Disease
    • General Health Impact, Infectious Disease: Vectorborne Disease
      • Vectorborne Disease: Flea-borne Disease
        • Flea-borne Disease: Plague
        Flea-borne Disease
      Vectorborne Disease
    Exposure Change Prediction, Other Model/Methodology Type, Specify
    • Exposure Change Prediction, Other Model/Methodology Type, Specify: Historic tree-based temperature reconstruction models
    Research Article
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