| HISTORICAL |
Rutishauser et al. 2007 Swiss Spring Phenological Index
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Rutishauser, T.,Luterbacher, J.,Jeanneret, F.,Pfister, C.,Wanner, H. 2007 A phenology-based reconstruction of interannual
changes in past spring seasons J. Geophys. Res. Vol. 112, G04016
| Data Coverage |
North: 46 * South: 46 |
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West: 8 * East: 8 |
Start Year: 1702 AD * End Year: 2007 AD
Data: Please Cite Data Contributors!
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Summary: Plant phenological observations are accurately dated information of
seasonal vegetation variability in midlatitude climates. In order to
extend phenological records into the past and assess climate impacts
on vegetation on long timescales, there is a need to make use of
historical observations of plant phenology. Here we present a continuous,
annually resolved reconstruction of a statistical "Spring plant" defined as
the weighted mean for the flowering of cherry and apple tree and budburst
beech from plant phenological observations across a range of sites in
Switzerland from 1702 to 2005. The reconstruction indicates a statistical
reconstruction uncertainty (±3.4 days) at interannual timescale. The earliest
and the latest year were observed in 1961 (14 April) and 1879 (13 May),
respectively. In the context of the last 300 years, the recent three decades
do not show a preponderance of very early years as expected from increased
spring temperatures. Most of the years in the period after 1990, however,
are earlier than the reconstruction mean (27 April). The 1940s, 1910s, 1890s
and the early 18th century are periods with similarly early starts of spring
season in comparison with the recent decades. Moving linear trend analysis
shows unprecedented agreement towards earlier spring onsets in observed and
temperature-based, reconstructed plant phenological records in the late 20th/
early 21st century. Our reconstructed "Spring plant" provides long-term
evidence of vegetation variability for comparisons with temperature measurement
and other spring onset indicators such as snow melt. The multicentennial long
record offers a high potential for applications in long-term climate impact
studies and vegetation model validations.
More Info on Historical Data |
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Complete XML Record: noaa-historical-6208
(Last Revised: 2009-02-11 )
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| http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/ |
| E-mail: bruce.a.bauer@noaa.gov |
| E-mail: paleo@noaa.gov |
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