Anderson, Lesleigh and Abbott, Mark B. and Finney, Bruce P. and Burns, Stephen J.

Late Holocene moisture balance variability in the southwest Yukon Territory, Canada

Note added by NAm2k hydroclimate authors: Evaluate evaporative effects versus changes in source precipitation 18O by comparing Marcella Lake trends with trends from a hydrologically open lake (=source precip changes)

oxygen isotope ratios from Charophyte stem encrustatations

summer evaporation and d18O of input water

Hydrologically closed lake; compared modern lakewater 18O with 18O of local precipitation

Pollen-based reconstructions of late Holocene climate from the central and western Canadian Arctic

Note added by NAm2k hydroclimate authors: RMSEP of diatom-inferred depth transfer function is 1.3 m; hence increase after 1800 likely robust, smaller shifts may not be

*note-Upper part of chronlogy constrained by 210Pb dates, which are not included in publication

MICHELS, ASTRID; LAIRD, KATHLEEN R.; WILSON, SUSAN E.; THOMSON, DAVID; LEAVITT, PETER R.; OGLESBY, ROBERT J.; CUMMING, BRIAN F.

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

Lundeen, Zachary; Brunelle, Andrea; Burns, Stephen J.; Polyak, Victor; Asmerom, Yemane

A speleothem stable isotope record from Minnetonka Cave, located in the northern Wasatch Mountains, is shown to be a winter season biased record of Holocene paleoclimate. The season-specific sensitivity of the record provides an opportunity to more robustly evaluate long-term variability in large-scale Pacific teleconnection patterns such as ENSO and PDO, as precipitation anomalies associated with these teleconnection patterns occur primarily in winter. Seasonal climate composite maps of high and low snowpack years at the study site demonstrate that winter precipitation is strongly linked to the relative strength of the Aleutian Low and the associated changes from/to more meridional or more zonal steering level wind patterns. Minnetonka Cave data suggest wetter/cooler than modern early Holocene winters, and a dry middle Holocene with a consistent warming trend from 7400 to 3800 BP. After 4000 BP, data suggest a return to wetter and/or colder than modern winters for much of the late Holocene. Prolonged winter-dry intervals are identified from 7400 to 6000 BP and 4200 BP.