Recent atmospheric drying in Siberia is not unprecedented over the last 1,500 years

• Published in: Scientific Reports
• Main Authors: Churakova Sidorova, O. V., Corona, C., Fonti, M. V., Guillet, S., Saurer, M., Siegwolf, R. T. W., Stoffel, M., Vaganov, E. A.
• Other Authors: Marie Curie International Incoming Fellowship, European Science Foundation ESF BASIN- Stable Isotopes in Biospheric-Atmospheric Exchange SIBAE, Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung, Russian Foundation for Basic Research
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Springer Science and Business Media LLC 2020
• Subjects: Multidisciplinary; Ice; permafrost; Siberia
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-71656-w; https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-71656-w.pdf; https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-71656-w

Abstract Newly developed millennial δ 13 C larch tree-ring chronology from Siberia allows reconstruction of summer (July) vapor pressure deficit (VPD) changes in a temperature-limited environment. VPD increased recently, but does not yet exceed the maximum values reconstructed during the Medieval Warm Anomaly. The most humid conditions in the Siberian North were recorded in the Early Medieval Period and during the Little Ice Age. Increasing VPD under elevated air temperature affects the hydrology of these sensitive ecosystems by greater evapotranspiration rates. Further VPD increases will significantly affect Siberian forests most likely leading to drought and forest mortality even under additional access of thawed permafrost water. Adaptation strategies are needed for Siberian forest ecosystems to protect them in a warming world.