Tree-ring-based drought reconstruction in the Iberian Range (east of Spain) since 1694

Abstract

Droughts are a recurrent phenomenon in the Mediterranean basin with negative consequences for society, economic activities, and natural systems. Nevertheless, the study of drought recurrence and severity in Spain has been limited so far due to the relatively short instrumental period. In this work, we present a reconstruction of the standardized precipitation index (SPI) for the Iberian Range. Growth variations and climatic signals within the network are assessed developing a correlation matrix and the data combined to a single chronology integrating 336 samples from 169 trees of five different pine species distributed throughout the province of Teruel. The new chronology, calibrated against regional instrumental climatic data, shows a high and stable correlation with the July SPI integrating moisture conditions over 12 months forming the basis for a 318-year drought reconstruction. The climate signal contained in this reconstruction is highly significant (p<0.05) and spatially robust over the interior areas of Spain located above 1000 meters above sea level (masl). According to our SPI reconstruction, seven substantially dry and five wet periods are identified since the late seventeenth century considering ≥±1.76 standard deviations. Besides these, 36 drought and 28 pluvial years were identified. Some of these years, such as 1725, 1741, 1803, and 1879, are also revealed in other drought reconstructions in Romania and Turkey, suggesting that coherent larger-scale synoptic patterns drove these extreme deviations. Since regional drought deviations are also retained in historical documents, the tree-ringbased reconstruction presented here will allow us to crossvalidate drought frequency and magnitude in a highly vulnerable region.

Temperature variability in the Iberian Range since 1602 inferred from tree-ring records

“…The data used for this study can be downloaded at http://www.dendroteam.com/#download-data (Tejedor et al, 2017).…”

“…In the IP, much progress has been made to reconstruct past centuries climate variability, including analysis of documentary evidence for temperature (i.e., Camuffo et al, 2010) and drought reconstruction (i.e., Barriendos, 1997;Vicente-Serrano and Cuadrat, 2007;Domínguez-Castro et al, 2010). Additionally, progress has been made in further understanding long-term climate variability in the IP through dendroclimatological studies focussing on drought (Esper et al, 2014;Tejedor et al, 2016) and temperature (Büntgen et al, 2008;Dorado Liñán et al, 2012Esper et al, 2015a). Nevertheless, a temperature reconstruction for central Spain is still missing.…”

Avances en la reconstrucción plurisecular del clima en el noreste de España: nuevas bases de datos y resultados

“…Utilizando la dendrocronología como herramienta para conocer el clima del pasado, se ha logrado reconstruir el Índice Estandarizado de Sequía (publicado en Tejedor et al, 2015). Para ello se ha utilizado una red dendrocronológica compuesta por 336 muestras de 169 árboles de 5 especies diferentes de Pinus sp.…”

Documentary sources to investigate multidecadal variability of droughts

“…Stahle et al, 2007) and, recently, in Iberia (e.g. Esper et al, 2015;Tejedor et al, 2015). Lake sediments are also valuable drought proxies worldwide (e.g.…”