Spatial patterns of climatic changes in the Eurasian north reflected in Siberian larch tree‐ring parameters and stable isotopes

Abstract

AbstractA spatial description of climatic changes along circumpolar regions is presented based on larch tree‐ring width (TRW) index, latewood density (MXD), δ13C, δ18O of whole wood and cellulose chronologies from eastern Taimyr (TAY) and north‐eastern Yakutia (YAK), Russia, for the period 1900–2006, in comparison with a δ13C cellulose chronology from Finland (FIN) and a δ18O ice core record from Greenland (GISP2). Correlation analysis showed a strong positive relationships between TRW, MXD, stable isotope chronologies and June, July air temperatures for TAY and YAK, while the precipitation signal was reflected differently in tree‐ring parameters and stable isotope data for the studied sites. Negative correlations were found between July, August precipitation from TAY and stable isotopes and MXD, while May, July precipitations are reflected in MXD and stable isotopes for the YAK. No significant relationships were found between TRW and precipitation for TAY and YAK. The areas of significant correlations between July gridded temperatures and TRW, MXD and stable isotopes show widespread dimension from east to west for YAK and from north to south for TAY. The climate signal is stronger expressed in whole wood than in cellulose for both Siberian regions. The comparison analysis between δ13C cellulose chronologies from FIN and TAY revealed a similar declining trend over recent decades, which could be explained by the physiological effect of the increasing atmospheric CO2. TRW, MXD and δ13C chronologies from TAY and YAK show a negative correlation with North Atlantic Oscillation index, while the δ18O chronologies show positive correlations, confirming recent warming trend at high latitudes. The strong correlation between GISP2 and δ18O of cellulose from YAK chronologies reflects the large‐scale climatic signal connected by atmospheric circulation patterns expressed by precipitation.