Oxygen Isotopes in Tree Rings from Greenland: A New Proxy of NAO
We present the first Greenlandic tree ring oxygen isotope record (δ 18 O GTR ), derived from four birch trees collected from the Qinguadalen Valley in southwestern Greenland in 1999. Our δ 18 O record spans from 1950–1999 and is significantly and positively correlated with winter ice core δ 18 O fro...
Published in: | Atmosphere |
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Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
MDPI AG
2020
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos12010039 https://doaj.org/article/1188a3a5719f461b9b032e0fe6dd5073 |
Summary: | We present the first Greenlandic tree ring oxygen isotope record (δ 18 O GTR ), derived from four birch trees collected from the Qinguadalen Valley in southwestern Greenland in 1999. Our δ 18 O record spans from 1950–1999 and is significantly and positively correlated with winter ice core δ 18 O from southern Greenland. δ 18 O GTR records are positively correlated with southwestern Greenland January–August mean temperatures. North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) reconstructions have been developed from a variety of proxies, but never with Greenlandic tree rings, and our δ 18 O GTR record is significantly correlated with NAO (r = −0.64), and spatial correlations with sea-level pressure indicate a classic NAO pressure seesaw pattern. These results may facilitate a longer NAO reconstruction based on long time series of tree ring δ 18 O records from Greenland, provided that subfossil wood can be found in areas vacated by melting glaciers. |
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