Spatial variations of effective moisture in the western United States

Shinker, Jacqueline J.; Bartlein, Patrick J.

doi:10.1029/2009gl041387

Cited by 32 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…The basal age of the lake is ~6000 cal yr BP . Precipitation is low (~25 cm/yr), but evenly distributed through the year, with a slight peak in May (Shinker and Bartlein, 2010). Desert shrubland surrounds the lake.…”

Section: East Allen Lake (1995 M Asl)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The basal age of the lake is 12,500 cal yr BP (Carter et al, 2013); however, Long Lake's position adjacent to the terminal Pinedale-age moraine suggests that the lake-basin may be much older. Precipitation is evenly distributed throughout the year as this is a lower-elevation site (Shinker and Bartlein, 2010), but melting of annual snowpack likely leads to runoff in the ephemeral outflow channel during the spring. Long Lake is near lower tree line in the Medicine Bow Mountains with the modern forests dominated by lodgepole pine with sub-dominants subalpine fir and Engelmann spruce (Carter et al, 2013).…”

Section: Long Lake (2720 M Asl)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite textural similarities, these soils differ in nutrient limitations, with the volcanic soils from northwestern Wyoming being nitrogen limited when compared to the glacial-till soils of southeastern Wyoming ( Johnson and Smith, 1966). Other controls on timing of past vegetation development may be due to climatological differences between the northern and southern parts of Wyoming suggesting regional variation in potential drivers of environmental change (Carter et al, 2013;Shinker, 2010;Shinker and Bartlein, 2010;Wise, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Postglacial vegetation history of southeastern Wyoming, U.S.A.

Minckley¹

2014

Rocky Mountain Geology

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Paleoenvironmental records from southeastern Wyoming have been compiled to show the development of forests in the Medicine Bow Mountains. The late-glacial period had little to no tree cover and a landscape dominated by alpine tundra, or alpine steppe-like conditions based on high abundances of Artemisia pollen. Initial conifer forest development began after 13,000 calibrated years Before Present (cal yr BP) with patchy, mixed fir-spruce-pine forests forming throughout the Medicine Bow Mountains. At lower tree line, pines in these forests contained limber pine based on pollen and macrofossil data, whereas at mid-and high elevations pine trees were most likely lodgepole pine. Forest densities increased after 9000 cal yr BP, with upper elevations dominated by Engelmann spruce and subalpine fir, while lower elevations were dominated by lodgepole pine that replaced limber pine. Modern forest conditions began to form after 5000 cal yr BP. The timing of past vegetation change in southeastern Wyoming appears consistent with those observed in the Greater Yellowstone region though pollen assemblages vary regionally.

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Section: East Allen Lake (1995 M Asl)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Long Lake (2720 M Asl)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Postglacial vegetation history of southeastern Wyoming, U.S.A.

Minckley¹

2014

Rocky Mountain Geology

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“…This warming led to the formation of summer thermal lows that provide a mechanism for drawing moisture from the Gulf of Mexico and southeastern Pacific (Spaulding, 1991;Adams and Comrie, 1997;Minckley et al, 2004). The bimodal nature of precipitation in the southwest, especially the extra precipitation in the summer associated with the NAMS, provides effective moisture at the surface related to water-and energy-balance components important for ecosystem and water resources related to vegetation and the ciénega systems of the southwest (Shinker and Bartlein, 2010).…”

Section: Regional Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Filling a Geographical Gap: New Paleoecological Reconstructions From the Desert Southwest, USA

et al. 2018

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In 1916 the time stamp for quantitative palynology was set with Lennart von Post's initial paper on pollen analysis and environmental change in the Scandinavian peat bogs. In the 1930s, Von Post provided a map of the known palynological reconstructions. This map showed many conspicuous gaps of geographic coverage that have endured to this day. In particular, environmental reconstruction in arid lands remain much less known, largely due to the paucity of depositional environments in these areas as well as challenges with preservation in regions either uniformly dry or subjected to strong wet/dry phases. Over the last decade we have examined linkages between desert wetland development and episodes of wet and arid conditions. Desert wetland, or ciénegas, are recharged by groundwater and appear to be sensitive to climate-driven groundwater fluctuations. These systems appear to "grow" during wet periods potentially associated with enhanced El Niño activity, suggesting an important linkage with groundwater dynamics and the quantity and frequency of winter precipitation delivery. Hydrologic conditions in ciénegas are also important controls on the preservation of pollen, where episodes of aridity coincide with periods of poor pollen preservation. We assess modern El Niño events, as analogs of past wet conditions, to provide context on the atmospheric controls for delivery of moisture into the desert southwest during winter. Our analysis shows that anomalously high and persistent moisture delivery into the region during El Niño events enables the growth of ciénegas, improves preservation of pollen and promotes the growth of fuels necessary to support wildfire. This paper examines ciénega sites located in the southwestern region of North America at the US/Mexico Border and discusses results that addresses a geographical gap identified by Von Post's original work in paleoenvironmental research.

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“…Using data binned by century, we evaluate the patterns associated with commonly referenced periods, such as the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA) from 800-1300 CE (1150-650 BP) and the Little Ice Age (LIA) from 1400-1900 CE (550-50 BP), but we also describe other first-order hydroclimate trends represented by the data. In doing so, we assess evidence for major regional contrasts that may represent important circulation patterns or dynamics (e.g., Mock, 1996;Shinker and Bartlein, 2010;Wise and Dannenberg, 2014), and, where possible, we consider the magnitude of Common Era 10 trends in the context of the Holocene.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Millennial-to-centennial patterns and trends in the hydroclimate of North America over the past 2000 years

Shuman

Routson

McKay

et al. 2017

Preprint

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Abstract.A synthesis of 93 hydrologic records from across North and Central America, and adjacent tropical and Arctic islands, reveals centennial to millennial trends in the regional hydroclimates of the Common Era (CE; past 2000 years). The hydrological records derive from materials stored in lakes, bogs, caves, and ice from extant glaciers, which have the continuity through time to preserve low-frequency (>100 year) climate signals that may not be well represented by other 20 shorter-lived archives, such as tree-ring chronologies. The most common pattern, represented in 46 (49%) of the records, indicates that the centuries before 1000 CE were drier than the centuries since that time. Principal components analysis indicates that millennial-scale trends represent the dominant pattern of variance in the southwest and northeast U.S., the midcontinent, Pacific Northwest, the Arctic, and the tropics, although not all records within a region show the same direction of change. The Pacific Northwest, Greenland, and the southernmost tier of the tropical sites tended to dry toward present, as 25 many other areas became wetter than before. Twenty-two records (24%) indicate that the Medieval period (800-1300 CE) was drier than the Little Ice Age (1400-1900 CE), but in many cases the difference was part of the longer millennial-scale trend, and, in 25 records (27%), the Medieval period represented a pluvial (wet) phase. Where quantitative records permitted a comparison, we found that centennial-scale fluctuations over the Common Era represented changes of 3-7% of the modern inter-annual range of variability in precipitation, but the accumulation of these long-term trends over the entirety of the 30Holocene caused recent centuries to be significantly wetter, on average, than most of the past 11,000 years.

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Spatial variations of effective moisture in the western United States

Cited by 32 publications

References 29 publications

Postglacial vegetation history of southeastern Wyoming, U.S.A.

Postglacial vegetation history of southeastern Wyoming, U.S.A.

Filling a Geographical Gap: New Paleoecological Reconstructions From the Desert Southwest, USA

Millennial-to-centennial patterns and trends in the hydroclimate of North America over the past 2000 years

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