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Eastern Mediterranean summer temperatures since 730 CE from Mt. Smolikas tree-ring densities

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Abstract

The Mediterranean has been identified as particularly vulnerable to climate change, yet a high-resolution temperature reconstruction extending back into the Medieval Warm Period is still lacking. Here we present such a record from a high-elevation site on Mt. Smolikas in northern Greece, where some of Europe’s oldest trees provide evidence of warm season temperature variability back to 730 CE. The reconstruction is derived from 192 annually resolved, latewood density series from ancient living and relict Pinus heldreichii trees calibrating at r1911–2015 = 0.73 against regional July–September (JAS) temperatures. Although the recent 1985–2014 period was the warmest 30-year interval (JAS Twrt.1961–1990 = + 0.71 °C) since the eleventh century, temperatures during the ninth to tenth centuries were even warmer, including the warmest reconstructed 30-year period from 876–905 (+ 0.78 °C). These differences between warm periods are statistically insignificant though. Several distinct cold episodes punctuate the Little Ice Age, albeit the coldest 30-year period is centered during high medieval times from 997–1026 (− 1.63 °C). Comparison with reconstructions from the Alps and Scandinavia shows that a similar cold episode occurred in central Europe but was absent at northern latitudes. The reconstructions also reveal different millennial-scale temperature trends (NEur = − 0.73 °C/1000 years, CEur = − 0.13 °C, SEur = + 0.23 °C) potentially triggered by latitudinal changes in summer insolation due to orbital forcing. These features, the opposing millennial-scale temperature trends and the medieval multi-decadal cooling recorded in Central Europe and the Mediterranean, are not well captured in state-of-the-art climate model simulations.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Robert Brandes for pointing towards old-growth forest sites in Greece, and Markus Kochbeck, Yannik Esser, Eileen Kuhl and Philipp Römer for MXD measurements. Supported by the German Science Foundation projects “Inst 247/665-1 FUGG” and “ES 161/9-1”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany

    Jan Esper, Lara Klippel & Oliver Konter

  2. Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Paul J. Krusic & Ulf Büntgen

  3. Department of Physical Geography, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden

    Paul J. Krusic

  4. Navarino Environmental Observatory, Navarino Dunes, Messenia, Greece

    Paul J. Krusic

  5. Physics Institute, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland

    Christoph C. Raible

  6. Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, Bern, Switzerland

    Christoph C. Raible

  7. Department of Geography, Justus Liebig University, Giessen, Germany

    Elena Xoplaki & Jürg Luterbacher

  8. Centre of International Development and Environmental Research, Justus Liebig University, Giessen, Germany

    Jürg Luterbacher

  9. Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland

    Ulf Büntgen

  10. Global Change Research Centre AS CR v.v.i., Brno, Czech Republic

    Ulf Büntgen

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  1. Jan Esper
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Esper, J., Klippel, L., Krusic, P.J. et al. Eastern Mediterranean summer temperatures since 730 CE from Mt. Smolikas tree-ring densities. Clim Dyn 54, 1367–1382 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-019-05063-x

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