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A proxy record of winter temperatures since 1836 from ice freeze-up/breakup in lake Näsijärvi, Finland

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Abstract

One obstacle on the way to a comprehensive spatial reconstruction of regional temperature changes over the past centuries is the sparseness of long winter temperature records. This paper reconstructs a proxy record of April and November–December temperatures in south-central Finland for the interval from 1836 to 1872 from breakup and freeze-up dates and ice-cover duration of a lake. Emphasis is on detecting the suitable winter months and quantifying the calibrations with measured temperatures (1873–2002). The calibration slope for the breakup date (0.158°C/day) is larger than for freeze-up date (0.119°C/day) or duration (0.090°C/day). A comparison with results from other proxy records shows that the slope may depend also on the geographical site. Trend analyses of the full temperature records (1836–2002) indicate the existence of minor change-points at around 1867 (April temperature) and 1874 (November–December temperature), with warming rates thereafter of 1.67°C per century (April) and 1.16°C per century (November–December). Spectral analyses reveal peaks in the band between 2 and 5 year period, which may point to influences of the North Atlantic Oscillation, and less power in the decadal band (up to 42 year period).

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Acknowledgements

Two anonymous reviewers made constructive and detailed remarks, and Kristín Ólafsdóttir made helpful comments on the manuscript. I sincerely thank also Matti Joki for information about the lake Näsijärvi data, Heikki Tuomenvirta for release of the measured temperature data and Mersku Alkio for help with the Finnish language. Thanks go also to the makers of the Generic Mapping Tool, used for producing Fig. 1.

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  1. Climate Risk Analysis, Schneiderberg 26, 30167, Hannover, Germany

    Manfred Mudelsee

  2. Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Bussestrasse 24, 27570, Bremerhaven, Germany

    Manfred Mudelsee

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  1. Manfred Mudelsee
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Correspondence to Manfred Mudelsee.

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Mudelsee, M. A proxy record of winter temperatures since 1836 from ice freeze-up/breakup in lake Näsijärvi, Finland. Clim Dyn 38, 1413–1420 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-011-1046-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-011-1046-9

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