TY  - JOUR
AU  - Freund, Mandy B.
AU  - Helle, Gerhard
AU  - Balting, Daniel F.
AU  - Ballis, Natasha
AU  - Schleser, Gerhard H.
AU  - Cubasch, Ulrich
TI  - European tree-ring isotopes indicate unusual recent hydroclimate
JO  - Communications earth & environment
VL  - 4
IS  - 1
SN  - 2662-4435
CY  - London
PB  - Springer Nature
M1  - FZJ-2023-03490
SP  - 26
PY  - 2023
AB  - In recent decades, Europe has experienced more frequent flood and drought events. However, little is known about the long-term, spatiotemporal hydroclimatic changes across Europe. Here we present a climate field reconstruction spanning the entire European continent based on tree-ring stable isotopes. A pronounced seasonal consistency in climate response across Europe leads to a unique, well-verified spatial field reconstruction of European summer hydroclimate back to AD 1600. We find three distinct phases of European hydroclimate variability as possible fingerprints of solar activity (coinciding with the Maunder Minimum and the end of the Little Ice Age) and pronounced decadal variability superimposed by a long-term drying trend from the mid-20th century. We show that the recent European summer drought (2015–2018) is highly unusual in a multi-century context and unprecedented for large parts of central and western Europe. The reconstruction provides further evidence of European summer droughts potentially being influenced by anthropogenic warming and draws attention to regional differences.
LB  - PUB:(DE-HGF)16
UR  - <Go to ISI:>//WOS:000928945700001
DO  - DOI:10.1038/s43247-022-00648-7
UR  - https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/1014940
ER  -