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

• 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: English
• Published: Masaryk Univerzity 2023
• Subjects: Arctic Ocean; climate change; dendrochronology; driftwood supply; sea-ice dynamics; Arctic; Norway; Climate change; Global warming; Iceland; Northern Norway; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://journals.muni.cz/CPR/article/view/33528

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.