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High-Resolution Paleoclimatology

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Book cover Dendroclimatology

Part of the book series: Developments in Paleoenvironmental Research ((DPER,volume 11))

Abstract

High resolution paleoclimatology involves studies of natural archives as proxies for past climate variations at a temporal scale that is comparable to that of instrumental data. In practice, this generally means annually resolved records, from tree rings, ice cores, banded corals, laminated speleothems and varved sediments. New analytical techniques offer many unexplored avenues of research in high resolution paleoclimatology. However, critical issues involving accuracy of the chronology, reproducibility of the record, frequency response to forcing and other factors, and calibration of the proxies remain. Studies of proxies at high resolution provide opportunities to examine the frequency and magnitude of extreme events over time, and their relationships to forcing, and such studies may be of particular relevance to societal concerns.

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Acknowledgements

I gratefully acknowledge the support of my research by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA, NA050AR4311106), the National Science Foundation (NSF, ATM-0402421), and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE, DE-FG02-98ER62604).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geosciences, Climate System Research Center, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, 01003-9297, USA

    Raymond S. Bradley

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  1. Raymond S. Bradley
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Correspondence to Raymond S. Bradley .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, University of Arizona, Tucson, 85721, Arizona, USA

    Malcolm K. Hughes

  2. , Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, University of Arizona, Tucson, 85721, Arizona, USA

    Thomas W. Swetnam

  3. , CIRES, University Colorado, Broadway 325, Boulder, 80305-3328, Colorado, USA

    Henry F. Diaz

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Bradley, R.S. (2011). High-Resolution Paleoclimatology. In: Hughes, M., Swetnam, T., Diaz, H. (eds) Dendroclimatology. Developments in Paleoenvironmental Research, vol 11. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-5725-0_1

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