Solar and climate signal records in tree ring width from Chile (AD 1587–1994)

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Abstract

Tree growth rings represent an important natural record of past climate variations and solar activity effects registered on them. We performed in this study a wavelet analysis of tree ring samples of Pilgerodendron cupressoides species, from Glaciar Pio XI (Lat: 49°12′S; 74°55′W; Alt: 25 m), Chile. We obtained an average chronology of about 400 years from these trees. The 11-yr solar cycle was present during the whole period in tree ring data, being more intense during Maunder minimum (1645–1715). The short-term periods, around 2–7 yr, that were found are more likely associated with ENSO effects. Further, we found significant periods around 52 and 80–100 yr. These periodicities are coincident with the fourth harmonic (52 yr) of the Suess cycle (208 yr) and Gleissberg (∼80–100 yr) solar cycles. Therefore, the present analysis shows evidence of solar activity effect/modulation on climatic conditions that affect tree ring growth. Although we cannot say with the present analysis if this effect is on local, regional or global climate, these results add evidence to an important role of solar activity over terrestrial climate over the past ∼400 yr.

Introduction

Quasi-periodical variations such as sunspots numbers have been observed for more than a century in solar phenomena. Unambiguous confirmation of real variations in the Sun's radiation at the Earth is relatively recent; only during the past decade satellite measurements have revealed the small variability of the solar constant. During last centuries, maxima and minima in solar activity have occurred approximately every 11 yr. This is demonstrated clearly by sunspot data. The Sun also exhibits variability over time scales both longer and shorter than its dominant 11-yr cycle (Hudson, 1988; Foukal, 1990).

Techniques using cosmogenic isotopes permitted the reconstruction of solar activity variations on longer time scales. Two isotopes are commonly used, carbon-14 and beryllium-10, both produced by cosmic rays. Galactic cosmic rays are modulated by changes in the strength of the interplanetary magnetic field arising from changes in solar activity (Hoyt and Schatten, 1997). The existence of century scale variations caused by solar activity has been confirmed from 14C dating (Stuiver and Quay, 1980) and 10Be ice-core data (Beer et al., 1988). The Sun's long-term behavior also shows transient dynamics such as the Maunder minimum from AD 1645 to 1715 (Eddy, 1976), characterized by a striking decrease of solar activity.

Recent techniques used trees ring as a possible proxy of the solar activity variations in the past. Murphy (1991) has found periods of 11.1 and 13.6 yr in tree rings from Taiwan. Dutilleul and Till (1992) have observed periods of 9.3 and 13.3 yr in tree rings from Morocco. Kurths et al. (1993) found periods around 11 yr in fossil (20 million years) tree rings from Germany. Rigozo et al. (2004) reported periods around 11 yr in tree rings from Southern Brazil.

Tree ring growth depends, among other factors, on air temperature and on the amount of water precipitation. Thus, it is expected that precipitation and temperature fluctuations caused by El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and other natural forcing mechanisms, could have recorded their signal in tree growth rings. In the South America region, researches with tree ring chronologies were most conducted for climate record studies in sample from Chile and Argentina (Hughes et al., 1982). It is also well known that ENSO has a very strong influence on the climate of South America (Neelin and Latif, 1998).

In this paper, a wavelet analysis was conducted on Pilgerodendrum cupressoides tree ring chronology from Chile. Periods associated with ENSO and some solar activity cycles were found and are described in this work.

Section snippets

Data set and spectral analysis

The tree ring data used in this study were obtained from Rigozo et al. (2006a), who obtained a chronology (∼400 yr) from Glacier Pio XI, Chile (Lat: 49°12′S; 74°55′W; Alt: 25 m). These trees were native Pilgerodendrum cupressoide species of ages ranging from 300 to 450 yr.

The indices used in this work were the Group Sunspot Number (Rg) for solar activity, and the Southern-Oscillation Index–SOI, for the El Niño-Southern Oscillation–ENSO (Enfield, 1989; Neelin and Latif, 1998). The Rg data set was

Results and discussion

The periods analyzed in this work are: (1) 1587–1994 in tree ring chronology, (2) 1610–1994 in Rg and (3) 1876–1994 in SOI. In order to identify the main periodicities in each time series and study its time variation, wavelet spectrum was determined for Rg, SOI and tree ring data using the 95% confidence level contour (Torrence and Compto, 1998).

Fig. 1 shows the wavelet spectrum for the Chile tree ring data. It shows a signal associated to the 11-yr solar cycle and fourth harmonic (52 yr) of the

Conclusion

We have performed wavelet analysis on a ∼400 yr tree ring width series from Pio XI, in Chile. The wavelet spectrum showed the presence of various periodicities around 2–7 yr, which may be related to climatic/ENSO factors. In addition, periodicities close to the 11, 52 and 80-yr solar cycles were found. A growth in Pio XI tree ring was observed in the the Maunder Minimum period (1645–1715). This study showed evidence of solar activity effect on climatic factors (rainfall and temperature) that

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico—CNPq for support granted to this research (Project APQ 474185/2003-6, PQ 300992/2003-3) and research fellowships (PDJ 150102/2005-4) and to FAPESP project (2005/03501-4).

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