Tree-ring stable isotopes from the European Alps reveal long-term summer drying over the Holocene

Here, we use 7437 stable oxygen (δ<sup>18</sup>O) isotope ratios extracted from 192 living and relict Alpine trees to reconstruct trends and extremes in European summer hydroclimate from 8980 before the present to 2014 Common Era. Our continuous tree-ring δ<sup>18</sup>O record reveals a significant long-term drying trend over much of the Holocene (<i>P</i> < 0.001), which is in line with orbital forcing and independent evidence from proxy reconstructions and model simulations. Wetter conditions in the early-to-mid Holocene coincide with the African Humid Period, whereas the most severe summer droughts of the past 9000 years are found during the Little Ice Age in the 18th and 19th centuries Common Era. We suggest that much of Europe was not only warmer but also wetter during most of the preindustrial Holocene, which implies a close relationship between insolation changes and long-term hydroclimate trends that likely affected natural and societal systems across a wide range of spatiotemporal scales.

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Publication Details

Journal
Science Advances
Published
2025-04-04
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adr4161
Citations
8
Primary Topic
Tree-ring climate responses
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
10.41
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article

Tree-ring stable isotopes from the European Alps reveal long-term summer drying over the Holocene

Ulf Büntgen, Kurt Nicolussi, Alexander V. Kirdyanov, Christian Schlüchter et al.
8 citations
Science Advances
Tree-ring climate responses
10.41
article

Tree-ring stable isotopes from the European Alps reveal long-term summer drying over the Holocene

Ulf Büntgen, Kurt Nicolussi, Alexander V. Kirdyanov, Christian Schlüchter, Tito Arosio, Paul J. Krusic, Markus Leuenberger, Willy Tegel, Francesco Muschitiello, Tatiana Bebchuk, Albert Hafner, Frederick Reinig, Jan Esper
article en
8 citations

Abstract

Here, we use 7437 stable oxygen (δ<sup>18</sup>O) isotope ratios extracted from 192 living and relict Alpine trees to reconstruct trends and extremes in European summer hydroclimate from 8980 before the present to 2014 Common Era. Our continuous tree-ring δ<sup>18</sup>O record reveals a significant long-term drying trend over much of the Holocene (<i>P</i> < 0.001), which is in line with orbital forcing and independent evidence from proxy reconstructions and model simulations. Wetter conditions in the early-to-mid Holocene coincide with the African Humid Period, whereas the most severe summer droughts of the past 9000 years are found during the Little Ice Age in the 18th and 19th centuries Common Era. We suggest that much of Europe was not only warmer but also wetter during most of the preindustrial Holocene, which implies a close relationship between insolation changes and long-term hydroclimate trends that likely affected natural and societal systems across a wide range of spatiotemporal scales.

Science AdvancesVol. 11(14)
University of Bern (CH), Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research (CH), University of Freiburg (DE), Universität Innsbruck (AT), Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (DE), Masaryk University (CZ), University of Cambridge (GB), Czech Academy of Sciences, Global Change Research Institute (CZ), Amt für Archäologie (CH), Sukachev Institute of Forest (RU)
Life below water
Openalex Percentile: Top 1%
Tree-ring climate responses
10.41
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