DOI: 10.25921/08k2-en25
title: NOAA/WDS Paleoclimatology - Wilson - Spitalgasse, Hospitalstiftung Bad Windsheim - PCAB - ITRDB GERM146

description: This paper presents a 500 year March-August precipitation reconstruction for the Bavarian Forest region of southeast Germany based on a composite, well-replicated data set of 676 living and historical tree-ring width series from Norway spruce. Two versions of the chronology are developed. The cubic smoothing spline (SPL) chronology, standardized with a fixed 80 year spline function, retains decadal and higher frequency variation. The regional curve standardization (RCS) chronology uses regional curve standardization to retain additional lower frequency variation from the same data. Calibration (1879-1978) of these chronologies with March-August precipitation indicates they explain 40% (SPL) and 34% (RCS) of the variability in the instrumental precipitation record. The SPL reconstruction models the high frequency variation better, whereas the RCS reconstruction tracks the low-frequency trends more robustly. It suggests that spring-summer precipitation was above the long-term average for the periods 1730-1810 and 1870-2000, about average between 1560 and 1610 and that significantly drier periods occurred during 1510-60, 1610-35, 1660-1730 and 1830-70. The low-frequency trends of the RCS reconstruction during the 19th century were verified by comparison with a regional precipitation series derived from 14 long precipitation records from central Europe. Better verification results were obtained using the original (non-homogenized) records over this interval. These results suggest that some low-frequency variability may have been removed during correction of these early records. Periods of synchronous decadal variability were observed between the SPL series and independent dendroclimatic reconstructions from central Europe. The RCS reconstruction is the first dendroclimatic precipitation reconstruction in Europe to capture low-frequency information. These long-term trends, however, are difficult to verify owing to the paucity of other proxy precipitation records in central Europe that portray low-frequency information. Further verification and testing of the RCS reconstruction will require the development of additional reconstructions from tree-rings (or other proxy data series) that similarly target low-frequency variability.
description: Purpose of Collection: 
# Hydroclimatic reconstructions 
# 
# 
# References: 
# Wilson, R.J.S. and W. Elling. 2004. 
# Temporal instabilities of tree-growth/climate response 
# in the Lower Bavarian Forest Region: Implications for 
# dendroclimatic reconstruction. 
# Trees: Structure and Function, 18 (1): 19-28.
# 
# Wilson, R.J.S., J. Esper, and B.H. Luckman. 2004. 
# Utilising Historical Tree-Ring Data for Dendroclimatology: 
# A Case study from the Bavarian Forest, Germany. 
# Dendrochronologia. 21 (2): 53-68.
# 
# Wilson, R.J.S., B.H. Luckman, and J. Esper. 2005. 
# A 500-Year Dendroclimatic Reconstruction of Spring/Summer 
# Precipitation from the Lower Bavarian Forest Region, Germany. 
# International Journal of Climatology, 25: 611-630.
# 
# 
# Notes: 
# Bavarian Forest Region Historical Timbers 
#  NOAA Template Raw Measurements file added 2019-02-05. July 2024: Elevation added by WDS-Paleo using get_elev_point() from the elevatr R package with the AWS Terrain Tiles (aws) and WGS 84 reference frame.