Multidecadal to millennial-scale shifts in drought conditions on the Canadian prairies over the past six millennia: implications for future drought assessment

noaa-recon-23073 Oro Lake, Saskatchewan 6,800 Year Salinity Reconstruction Michels, A.; Laird, K.R.; Wilson, S.E.; Thomson, D.; Leavitt, P.R.; Oglesby, R.J.; Cumming, B.F. Oro Lake, Saskatchewan 6,800 Year Salinity Reconstruction 2017-11-15 NCDC-Paleoclimatology ONLINE Files Pending https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/study/23073 Investigator A. Michels Investigator K.R. Laird Investigator S.E. Wilson Investigator D. Thomson Investigator P.R. Leavitt Investigator R.J. Oglesby Investigator B.F. Cumming earth science paleoclimate climate reconstructions|paleolimnology salinity,diatom assemblage|lake water,null,dimensionless,null,climate reconstructions|paleolimnology,null,null,N,null earth science paleoclimate climate reconstructions|paleolimnology age,null,null,year Common Era,null,climate reconstructions|paleolimnology,null,null,N,null earth science paleoclimate climate reconstructions|paleolimnology age,null,null,calendar year before present,null,climate reconstructions|paleolimnology,null,null,N,null earth science paleoclimate climate reconstructions|paleolimnology depth,null,null,centimeter,null,climate reconstructions|paleolimnology,null,null,N,null earth science paleoclimate reconstructions lake salinity geoscientificInformation Other Hydroclimate Reconstruction 6896 cal yr BP 76 cal yr BP Complete 49.78 49.78 -105.33 -105.33 686 686 Continent North America Canada Saskatchewan Oro Lake>LATITUDE 49.78>LONGITUDE -105.33 None Please cite original publication, online resource, dataset and publication DOIs (where available), and date accessed when using downloaded data. If there is no publication information, please cite investigator, title, online resource, and date accessed. The appearance of external links associated with a dataset does not constitute endorsement by the Department of Commerce/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of external Web sites or the information, products or services contained therein. For other than authorized activities, the Department of Commerce/NOAA does not exercise any editorial control over the information you may find at these locations. These links are provided consistent with the stated purpose of this Department of Commerce/NOAA Web site. English DOC/NOAA/NESDIS/NCEI National Centers for Environmental Information, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/data-access/paleoclimatology-data DATA Center Contact Bruce Bauer bruce.a.bauer@noaa.gov paleo@noaa.gov 303-497-6280 303-497-6513

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Boulder CO 80305-3328 USA online ASCII ASTRID MICHELS, KATHLEEN R. LAIRD, SUSAN E. WILSON, DAVID THOMSON, PETER R. LEAVITT, ROBERT J. OGLESBY and BRIAN F. CUMMING 2007 Multidecadal to millennial-scale shifts in drought conditions on the Canadian prairies over the past six millennia: implications for future drought assessment Global Change Biology 13 7 1295-1307 10.1111/j.1365-2486.2007.01367.x http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2007.01367.x/abstract

Three high-resolution climatic reconstructions, based on diatom analyses from lake sediment cores from the Canadian prairies, show that shifts in drought conditions have prevailed on centennial to millennial time scales for at least the past six millennia. These shifts in mean aridity exhibit broad regional synchrony, with particularly pronounced shifts at all sites between ~1700-2000 cal. yr bp and ~3600-3900 cal. yr bp, as well as at ~5400-5500 cal. yr bp for the two sites which extend back to at least 6000 cal. yr bp. The two Saskatchewan lakes exhibited significant coherence in both the timing and direction of these shifts, whereas inferred changes at the westernmost site in Alberta were significantly correlated to the Saskatchewan sites, but opposite in sign, and exhibited more high-frequency variation on the scale of centuries. The mechanisms behind these abrupt shifts in aridity are poorly understood, but may be linked to changes in oceanic-atmospheric interactions that influence the mean position of the jetstream and the associated storm tracks. Natural shifts in mean climatic conditions may accelerate with increasing carbon dioxide levels intensifying the likelihood of extreme droughts in North American prairies.

GET DATA https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/pages2k/NAm2kHydro-2017/data-version-1.0.0/Oro.Michels.2007.lpd Linked Paleo Data (LiPD) File Format; Oro Lake Salinity Reconstruction GET DATA https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/pages2k/NAm2kHydro-2017/noaa-templates/data-version-1.0.0/Oro.Michels.2007.txt NOAA Template File; Oro Lake Salinity Reconstruction USA/NOAA DIF Version 9.8.4 2018-12-11 2018-12-11