Central Europe, 500 BC - 2003 AD, tree ring width, Stone pine and European Larch, PAGES Euro-Med 2k Version Büntgen, U.; Tegel, W.; Nicolussi, K.; McCormick, M.; Frank, D.C.; Trouet, V.; Kaplan, J.O.; Herzig, F.; Heussner, K.-H.; Wanner, H.; Luterbacher, J.; Esper, J. Büntgen, U. Tegel, W. Nicolussi, K. McCormick, M. Frank, D.C. Trouet, V. Kaplan, J.O. Herzig, F. Heussner, K.-H. Wanner, H. Luterbacher, J. Esper, J. PAGES 2k Network PAGES Euro-Med 2k LADE Larix decidua Mill. European larch earth science/paleoclimate/tree-ring (Central Europe>LATITUDE 49>LONGITUDE 13) Climate variations influenced the agricultural productivity, health risk, and conflict level of preindustrial societies. Discrimination between environmental and anthropogenic impacts on past civilizations, however, remains difficult because of the paucity of high-resolution paleoclimatic evidence. We present tree ring–based reconstructions of central European summer precipitation and temperature variability over the past 2500 years. Recent warming is unprecedented, but modern hydroclimatic variations may have at times been exceeded in magnitude and duration. Wet and warm summers occurred during periods of Roman and medieval prosperity. Increased climate variability from ~250 to 600 C.E. coincided with the demise of the western Roman Empire and the turmoil of the Migration Period. Such historical data may provide a basis for counteracting the recent political and fiscal reluctance to mitigate projected climate change. STUDY NOTES: A central European summer temperature proxy was developed based on 1089 stone pine (Pinus cembra) and 457 European larch (Larix decidua) ring width series from high-elevation sites in the Austrian Alps and adjacent areas. This composite record includes living trees, historical timber, and subfossil wood, and correlates at 0.72 to 0.92 with interannual to multidecadal variations in instrumental June-to-August (JJA) temperature (1864–2003). The new proxy is significantly positive correlated with 20th century JJA temperatures of central Europe and the Mediterranean region, and possesses high- to low-frequency agreement with an independent maximum latewood density-based temperature surrogate from the Swiss Alps (r = 0.35 to 0.44; 755 to 2003 C.E.). NCDC-Paleoclimatology https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/data-access/paleoclimatology-data - Bauer Bruce Investigator : Büntgen, U. Investigator : Tegel, W. Investigator : Nicolussi, K. Investigator : McCormick, M. Investigator : Frank, D.C. Investigator : Trouet, V. Investigator : Kaplan, J.O. Investigator : Herzig, F. Investigator : Heussner, K.-H. Investigator : Wanner, H. Investigator : Luterbacher, J. Investigator : Esper, J. 2013-05-15 ONLINE Files online, ASCII https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/study/1003403 https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/reconstructions/pages2k/euro-med2k/Buentgen_et_al_Science_2011.txt https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/study/10394 https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/reconstructions/pages2k/euro-med2k/Buentgen_et_al_Science_2011.txt https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/study/10394 English https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/study/1003403 https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/reconstructions/pages2k/euro-med2k/Buentgen_et_al_Science_2011.txt https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/study/10394 Büntgen, U., W. Tegel, K. Nicolussi, M. McCormick, D. Frank, V. Trouet, J.O. Kaplan, F. Herzig, K.-U. Heussner, H. Wanner, J. Luterbacher, and J. Esper. 2011. 2500 Years of European Climate Variability and Human Susceptibility. Science, Vol. 331, pp. 578-583, 4 February 2011. DOI: 10.1126/science.1197175 START YEAR: -500 AD * END YEAR: 2006 AD 6 45 20 53