Climate drivers for peatland palaeoclimate records
Reconstruction of hydroclimate variability is an important part of understanding natural climate change on decadal to millennial timescales. Peatland records reconstruct 'bog surface wetness' (BSW) changes, but it is unclear whether it is a relative dominance of precipitation or temperatur...
Published in: | Quaternary Science Reviews |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
2009
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/publications/13067247-89c8-4961-872e-9e77416a2c39 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2009.05.013 |
id |
ftqueensubelpubl:oai:pure.qub.ac.uk/portal:publications/13067247-89c8-4961-872e-9e77416a2c39 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftqueensubelpubl:oai:pure.qub.ac.uk/portal:publications/13067247-89c8-4961-872e-9e77416a2c39 2024-09-15T18:24:12+00:00 Climate drivers for peatland palaeoclimate records Charman, D.J. Barber, K.E. Blaauw, Maarten Langdon, P.G. Mauquoy, D. Daley, T.J. Hughes, P.D.M. Karofeld, E. 2009-09 https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/publications/13067247-89c8-4961-872e-9e77416a2c39 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2009.05.013 eng eng https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/publications/13067247-89c8-4961-872e-9e77416a2c39 info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess Charman , D J , Barber , K E , Blaauw , M , Langdon , P G , Mauquoy , D , Daley , T J , Hughes , P D M & Karofeld , E 2009 , ' Climate drivers for peatland palaeoclimate records ' , Quaternary Science Reviews , vol. 28 , no. 19-20 , pp. 1811-1819 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2009.05.013 /dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1900/1907 name=Geology /dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2300/2306 name=Global and Planetary Change /dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1100/1105 name=Ecology Evolution Behavior and Systematics /dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/climate_action name=SDG 13 - Climate Action article 2009 ftqueensubelpubl https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2009.05.013 2024-07-22T23:44:20Z Reconstruction of hydroclimate variability is an important part of understanding natural climate change on decadal to millennial timescales. Peatland records reconstruct 'bog surface wetness' (BSW) changes, but it is unclear whether it is a relative dominance of precipitation or temperature that has driven these variations over Holocene timescales. Previously, correlations with instrumental climate data implied that precipitation is the dominant control. However, a recent chironomid inferred July temperature record suggested temperature changes were synchronous with BSW over the mid-late Holocene. This paper provides new analyses of these data to test competing hypotheses of climate controls on bog surface wetness and discusses some of the distal drivers of large-scale spatial patterns of BSW change. Using statistically based estimates of uncertainty in chronologies and proxy records, we show a correlation between Holocene summer temperature and BSW is plausible, but that chronologies are insufficiently precise to demonstrate this conclusively. Simulated summer moisture deficit changes for the last 6000 years forced by temperature alone are relatively small compared with observations over the 20th century. Instrumental records show that summer moisture deficit provides the best explanatory variable for measured water table changes and is more strongly correlated with precipitation than with temperature in both Estonia and the UK. We conclude that BSW is driven primarily by precipitation, reinforced by temperature, which is negatively correlated with precipitation and therefore usually forces summer moisture deficit in the same direction. In western Europe, BSW records are likely to be forced by changes in the strength and location of westerlies, linked to large-scale North Atlantic ocean and atmospheric circulation. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic Queen's University Belfast Research Portal Quaternary Science Reviews 28 19-20 1811 1819 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Queen's University Belfast Research Portal |
op_collection_id |
ftqueensubelpubl |
language |
English |
topic |
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1900/1907 name=Geology /dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2300/2306 name=Global and Planetary Change /dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1100/1105 name=Ecology Evolution Behavior and Systematics /dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/climate_action name=SDG 13 - Climate Action |
spellingShingle |
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1900/1907 name=Geology /dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2300/2306 name=Global and Planetary Change /dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1100/1105 name=Ecology Evolution Behavior and Systematics /dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/climate_action name=SDG 13 - Climate Action Charman, D.J. Barber, K.E. Blaauw, Maarten Langdon, P.G. Mauquoy, D. Daley, T.J. Hughes, P.D.M. Karofeld, E. Climate drivers for peatland palaeoclimate records |
topic_facet |
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1900/1907 name=Geology /dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2300/2306 name=Global and Planetary Change /dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1100/1105 name=Ecology Evolution Behavior and Systematics /dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/climate_action name=SDG 13 - Climate Action |
description |
Reconstruction of hydroclimate variability is an important part of understanding natural climate change on decadal to millennial timescales. Peatland records reconstruct 'bog surface wetness' (BSW) changes, but it is unclear whether it is a relative dominance of precipitation or temperature that has driven these variations over Holocene timescales. Previously, correlations with instrumental climate data implied that precipitation is the dominant control. However, a recent chironomid inferred July temperature record suggested temperature changes were synchronous with BSW over the mid-late Holocene. This paper provides new analyses of these data to test competing hypotheses of climate controls on bog surface wetness and discusses some of the distal drivers of large-scale spatial patterns of BSW change. Using statistically based estimates of uncertainty in chronologies and proxy records, we show a correlation between Holocene summer temperature and BSW is plausible, but that chronologies are insufficiently precise to demonstrate this conclusively. Simulated summer moisture deficit changes for the last 6000 years forced by temperature alone are relatively small compared with observations over the 20th century. Instrumental records show that summer moisture deficit provides the best explanatory variable for measured water table changes and is more strongly correlated with precipitation than with temperature in both Estonia and the UK. We conclude that BSW is driven primarily by precipitation, reinforced by temperature, which is negatively correlated with precipitation and therefore usually forces summer moisture deficit in the same direction. In western Europe, BSW records are likely to be forced by changes in the strength and location of westerlies, linked to large-scale North Atlantic ocean and atmospheric circulation. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Charman, D.J. Barber, K.E. Blaauw, Maarten Langdon, P.G. Mauquoy, D. Daley, T.J. Hughes, P.D.M. Karofeld, E. |
author_facet |
Charman, D.J. Barber, K.E. Blaauw, Maarten Langdon, P.G. Mauquoy, D. Daley, T.J. Hughes, P.D.M. Karofeld, E. |
author_sort |
Charman, D.J. |
title |
Climate drivers for peatland palaeoclimate records |
title_short |
Climate drivers for peatland palaeoclimate records |
title_full |
Climate drivers for peatland palaeoclimate records |
title_fullStr |
Climate drivers for peatland palaeoclimate records |
title_full_unstemmed |
Climate drivers for peatland palaeoclimate records |
title_sort |
climate drivers for peatland palaeoclimate records |
publishDate |
2009 |
url |
https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/publications/13067247-89c8-4961-872e-9e77416a2c39 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2009.05.013 |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_source |
Charman , D J , Barber , K E , Blaauw , M , Langdon , P G , Mauquoy , D , Daley , T J , Hughes , P D M & Karofeld , E 2009 , ' Climate drivers for peatland palaeoclimate records ' , Quaternary Science Reviews , vol. 28 , no. 19-20 , pp. 1811-1819 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2009.05.013 |
op_relation |
https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/publications/13067247-89c8-4961-872e-9e77416a2c39 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2009.05.013 |
container_title |
Quaternary Science Reviews |
container_volume |
28 |
container_issue |
19-20 |
container_start_page |
1811 |
op_container_end_page |
1819 |
_version_ |
1810464514036989952 |