The importance of Arctic driftwood for interdisciplinary global change research (Short Communication / Methodological note)

• Published in: Czech Polar Reports
• Main Authors: Kolář, Tomáš, Rybníček, Michal, Aspholm, Paul Eric, Čermák, Petr, Eggertsson, Ólafur, Gryc, Vladimír, Žid, Tomáš, Büntgen, Ulf
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Masaryk University Press 2023
• Subjects: Arctic; Global warming; Iceland; Northern Norway; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.5817/cpr2022-2-13; https://journals.muni.cz/CPR/article/download/33528/28603

The Arctic is one of the regions most sensitive to global warming, for which climate and environmental proxy archives are largely insufficient. Arctic driftwood provides a unique resource for research into the circumpolar entanglements of terrestrial, coastal and marine factors and processes – past, present, future. Here, first dendrochronological and wood anatomical insights into 639 Arctic driftwood samples are presented. Samples were collected across northern Norway (n =430) and north-western Iceland (n =209) in 2022. The overall potentials and limitations of Arctic driftwood to improve tree-ring chronologies from the boreal forest, and to reconstruct changes in sea ice extent and ocean current dynamics are discussed. Finally, the role driftwood has possibly played for Arctic settlements in the past hundreds of years is examined.