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Global Change Abstracts The Swiss Contribution - SCNAT

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182 <strong>Global</strong> <strong>Change</strong> <strong>Abstracts</strong> – <strong>The</strong> <strong>Swiss</strong> <strong>Contribution</strong> | Past <strong>Global</strong> <strong>Change</strong>s<br />

leaf area index (LAI), using both global vegetation<br />

models and palaeoecological data. Prior simulations<br />

indicate lowered LAIs at the Last Glacial<br />

Maximum (LGM), but this is the first attempt to<br />

corroborate predictions against observations. Location<br />

Eastern North America and eastern Beringia.<br />

Methods Using a dense surface pollen data set<br />

and remotely sensed LAIs from the Moderate Resolution<br />

Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument,<br />

we evaluate the ability of analogue-based<br />

techniques to reconstruct modern LAIs from pollen<br />

data. We then apply analogue techniques to<br />

LGM pollen records, calculate the ratio of LGM to<br />

modern LAIs (RLAI) and compare reconstructed<br />

RLAIs to RLAIs simulated by BIOME4. Sensitivity<br />

experiments with BIOME4 distinguish the effects<br />

of CO 2 and climate on glacial LAIs. Results Modern<br />

LAIs are skilfully predicted (r(2) = 0.83). Data<br />

and BIOME4 indicate that LAIs at the LGM were up<br />

to 12% lower than modern values in eastern North<br />

America and 60-94% lower in Beringia. In eastern<br />

North America, LGM climates partially counteracted<br />

CO 2-driven decreases in LAI, while in Beringia<br />

both contributed to lowered LAIs. Main conclusions<br />

In both regions climate is the primary<br />

driver of LGM LAIs. <strong>The</strong> decline in eastern North<br />

America LAIs is smaller than previously reported,<br />

so regional vegetation feedbacks to LGM climate<br />

may have been less significant than previously<br />

supposed. CO 2 exerts both physiological and community<br />

effects upon LAI, by regulating resource<br />

availability for leaf production and by influencing<br />

the competitive balance among species and hence<br />

the composition and structure of plant communities.<br />

Pollen-based reconstructions using analogue<br />

methods do not incorporate the physiological effect<br />

and so are upper estimates of full-glacial LAIs.<br />

BIOME4 sensitivity experiments indicate that the<br />

community and physiological effects together<br />

caused 10% to 20% decrease in LAIs at the LGM, so<br />

simulated RLAIs that are 80-100% of reconstructed<br />

RLAIs are regarded as consistent with data.<br />

<strong>Global</strong> Ecology and Biogeography, 2008, V17, N1,<br />

JAN, pp 122-134.<br />

08.1-379<br />

A matter of divergence: Tracking recent warming<br />

at hemispheric scales using tree ring data<br />

Wilson R, D’arrigo R, Buckley B, Büntgen U, Esper J,<br />

Frank D, Luckman B, Payette S, Vose R, Youngblut D<br />

Scotland, USA, Switzerland, Canada<br />

Paleontology , Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences<br />

, Plant Sciences , Forestry<br />

No current tree ring (TR) based reconstruction of<br />

extratropical Northern Hemisphere (ENH) temperatures<br />

that extends into the 1990s captures the<br />

full range of late 20th century warming observed<br />

in the instrumental record. Over recent decades,<br />

a divergence between cooler reconstructed and<br />

warmer instrumental large-scale temperatures<br />

is observed. We hypothesize that this problem is<br />

partly related to the fact that some of the constituent<br />

chronologies used for previous reconstructions<br />

show divergence against local temperatures<br />

in the recent period. In this study, we compiled TR<br />

data and published local /regional reconstructions<br />

that show no divergence against local temperatures.<br />

<strong>The</strong>se data have not been included in other<br />

large-scale temperature reconstructions. Utilizing<br />

this data set, we developed a new, completely<br />

independent reconstruction of ENH annual temperatures<br />

(1750-2000). This record is not meant to<br />

replace existing reconstructions but allows some<br />

degree of independent validation of these earlier<br />

studies as well as demonstrating that TR data can<br />

better model recent warming at large scales when<br />

careful selection of constituent chronologies is<br />

made at the local scale. Although the new series<br />

tracks the increase in ENH annual temperatures<br />

over the last few decades better than any existing<br />

reconstruction, it still slightly under predicts<br />

values in the post-1988 period. We finally discuss<br />

possible reasons why it is so difficult to model<br />

post- mid-1980s warming, provide some possible<br />

alternative approaches with regards to the instrumental<br />

target and detail several recommendations<br />

that should be followed in future large-scale<br />

reconstruction attempts that may result in more<br />

robust temperature estimates.<br />

Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres,<br />

2007, V112, ND17, SEP 11 ARTN: D17103.<br />

08.1-380<br />

Relation between rock uplift and denudation<br />

from cosmogenic nuclides in river sediment in<br />

the Central Alps of Switzerland<br />

Wittmann H, von Blanckenburg F, Kruesmann T,<br />

Norton K P, Kubik P W<br />

Switzerland, Germany<br />

Geology , Paleontology , Cryology / Glaciology<br />

A north-south traverse through the <strong>Swiss</strong> Central<br />

Alps reveals that denudation rates correlate with<br />

recent rock uplift rates in both magnitude and<br />

spatial distribution. This result emerges from a<br />

study of in situ-produced cosmogenic Be-10 in riverborne<br />

quartz in Central Alpine catchments. As a<br />

prerequisite, we took care to investigate the potential<br />

influence of shielding from cosmic rays due<br />

to snow, glaciers, and topographic obstructions;<br />

to calculate a possible memory from Last Glacial<br />

Maximum (LGM) glaciation; and to identify a<br />

watershed size that is appropriate for systematic

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