TREE-RING RECONSTRUCTION OF THE PALEOCLIMATIC HISTORY FOR THE RUSSIAN FAR EAST

Extensive dendroclimatic research has been conducted in western North America in order to reconstruct climate variability and understand ocean-atmosphere dynamics in the Northeast Pacific, however; relatively few tree-ring records exist for the Russian Far East, where regional climate is influenced by both Pacific Ocean and Eurasian continental modes of variability. Previously published studies have reconstructed summer temperatures and examined the relative influence of the continental and oceanic systems. Such reconstructions for the Kurile Islands and continental sites show a negative relationship with the PDO index. Recent work in the Far East of Russia has yielded tree-ring chronologies spanning several centuries from Sakhalin Island in the Sea of Okhotsk (10 chronologies; Larix gmelinii var. gmelinii, Abies sakhalinesis, and Picea ajanensis) as well as Russia’s coastal mainland near Vladivostok (13 chronologies; Quercus mongolica, Pinus koraiensis, and Abies holophylla). These tree-ring chronologies provide an extensive record of climate in the Far East with sensitivity to precipitation, temperature, and larger-scale climate indices, further filling the gap in our understanding of ocean-atmosphere interactions, Pacific decadal variability, seasonal sea ice, and ongoing warming in the region. Further work is underway to develop additional chronologies for the Kamchatka Peninsula, which links the Russian Far East network with the extensive database along the Gulf of Alaska.