Editorial Type:
Article
Article Type:
Research Article

Ancient Austrocedrus Tree-Ring Chronologies Used to Reconstruct Central Chile Precipitation Variability from a.d. 1200 to 2000

Carlos Le Quesne Instituto de Silvicultura, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, Chile

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David W. Stahle Department of Geosciences, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas

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Malcolm K. Cleaveland Department of Geosciences, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas

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Matthew D. Therrell Department of Geosciences, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas

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Juan Carlos Aravena Centro de Estudios Cuaternarios (CEQUA), Universidad de Magallanes, Punta Arenas, Chile

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Jonathan Barichivich Instituto de Silvicultura, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, Chile

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Print Publication:
15 Nov 2006
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI3935.1
Page(s):
5731–5744
Restricted access

Abstract

An expanded network of moisture-sensitive tree-ring chronologies has been developed for central Chile from long-lived cypress trees in the Andean Cordillera. A regional ring width chronology of cypress sites has been used to develop well-calibrated and verified estimates of June–December precipitation totals for central Chile extending from a.d. 1200 to 2000. These reconstructions are confirmed in part by historical references to drought in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and by nineteenth-century observations on the position of the Río Cipreses glacier. Analyses of the return intervals between droughts in the instrumental and reconstructed precipitation series indicate that the probability of drought has increased dramatically during the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, consistent with selected long instrumental precipitation records and with the general recession of glaciers in the Andean Cordillera. This increased drought risk has occurred along with the growing demand on surface water resources and may heighten socioeconomic sensitivity to climate variability in central Chile.

Corresponding author address: Carlos Le Quesne, Instituto de Silvicultura, Universidad Austral de Chile, casilla 567, Campus Isla Teja, Valdivia, Chile. Email: clequesn@uach.cl

Abstract

An expanded network of moisture-sensitive tree-ring chronologies has been developed for central Chile from long-lived cypress trees in the Andean Cordillera. A regional ring width chronology of cypress sites has been used to develop well-calibrated and verified estimates of June–December precipitation totals for central Chile extending from a.d. 1200 to 2000. These reconstructions are confirmed in part by historical references to drought in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and by nineteenth-century observations on the position of the Río Cipreses glacier. Analyses of the return intervals between droughts in the instrumental and reconstructed precipitation series indicate that the probability of drought has increased dramatically during the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, consistent with selected long instrumental precipitation records and with the general recession of glaciers in the Andean Cordillera. This increased drought risk has occurred along with the growing demand on surface water resources and may heighten socioeconomic sensitivity to climate variability in central Chile.

Corresponding author address: Carlos Le Quesne, Instituto de Silvicultura, Universidad Austral de Chile, casilla 567, Campus Isla Teja, Valdivia, Chile. Email: clequesn@uach.cl

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