Matthew Salzer

University of Arizona, Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, Research Scientist

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Interdisciplinary Geoscientist and Tree-Ring Researcher:- Environmental/Climate Change: annual to millennial timescales - cultural and societal impacts- Dendrochronology: tree ring dating and chronology building- Dendroclimatology: the creation of climatic reconstructions from tree-ring chronologies- Dendroarchaeology: human-environment interactions - tree rings and the archaeological record- Biogeography: the distribution of species at regional to continental scales

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Otis Crandell

Memorial University of Newfoundland

Armando Marques-Guedes

UNL - New University of Lisbon

Paul E. Olsen

Columbia University

Vasıf Şahoğlu

Ankara University

girolamo fiorentino

University of Salento

Ramiro Barberena

National Scientific and Technical Research Council

Irene Lemos

University of Oxford

Soroush Modabberi

University of Tehran

Pierre M . Vermeersch

KU Leuven

Gabriele Cifani

"Tor Vergata" University of Rome

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Papers by Matthew Salzer

Large <sup>14</sup> C excursion in 5480 BC indicates an abnormal sun in the mid-Holocene

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Jan 18, 2017

Radiocarbon content in tree-rings can be an excellent proxy of the past incoming cosmic ray inten... more Radiocarbon content in tree-rings can be an excellent proxy of the past incoming cosmic ray intensities to the Earth. Although such past cosmic ray variations have been studied by measurements of 14 C contents in tree rings with ≧10 year time resolution for the Holocene (1), there are few annual 14 C data. There is a little understanding about annual 14 C variations in the past with the exception of a few periods including the AD774-775 annual 14 C excursion (2). Here, we report the result of 14 C measurements using the bristlecone pine tree rings for the period from 5490 BC to 5411 BC with 1-2 year resolution, and a finding of an extraordinarily large 14 C increase (20‰) from 5481 BC to 5471 BC (the 5480 BC event). The 14 C increase rate of this event is much larger than that of the normal Grand Solar Minima. We propose the possible causes of this event are a special phase of grand solar minimum, or a combination of successive solar proton events and a normal grand solar minimum (or solar magnetic activity).

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A millennium-long 'Blue Ring' chronology from Bristlecone Pine as a record of volcanic forcing on climate

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;Blue Rings&... more &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;Blue Rings&amp;amp;amp;amp;#39; (BRs) are distinct wood anatomical anomalies recently discovered in several tree species. Previous studies connect their occurrence to lower than normal temperatures during the cell wall lignification phase of xylogenesis. Cell wall lignification usually continues after radial growth is completed, after the growth season. Therefore, systematic analysis of blue rings can add another level of time resolution to dendroclimatic studies. Additionally, BRs are more sensitive temperature recorders than frost rings which require freezing temperatures to form. We&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#160; present a continuous chronology of blue rings in North American bristlecone pine covering the last millennium and their connections to volcanic eruptions known both from historic and ice core records. Most recorded BR years coincide with cooling following large volcanic eruptions. The three most prominent events during the last 1000 years, with the highest share of blue rings in bristlecone pine from the White Mountains of California are at: 1453, 1601 and 1884CE (83%, 91%, 69% of blue rings respectively), attributed to known eruptions of Kuawe (attribution still debated) 1452CE -Vanuatu, Huaynaputina 1600CE &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#8211; Peru, and Krakatoa 1883CE - Indonesia. Fourth most prominent event with 58% of blue rings is noted in 1200CE. Acidity peak in 1200CE is so far recorded only in Greenland ice-cores suggesting northern hemisphere high latitude eruption, but strong BR signal would suggest a broader climatic significance of this event. It is interesting to note that BRs were indicated in 69% of samples in 1884, relating to the known eruption and associated climate impact of Krakatoa (1883), yet no BRs were observed in 1816, the so-called year without a summer which followed the largest historically noted and well described eruption of Tambora, Indonesia (1815). We did find a strong BR signal in 1809 (with BRs continuing in 1810 and 1811) following an unidentified but prominent eruption seen in ice core records. The 1809 and 1815 eruptions are thought to be responsible for the cold decade from 1810 to 1819 thought by some to be the coldest decade of the last 500ys. The source of 1809 eruption remains unknown and scientific debate over the scale of the eruption continues, but bipolar acidity peaks in ice cores point to a tropical eruption with widespread sulfate distribution to both hemispheres and tephra in ice cores points to two coinciding high latitude eruptions of only regional prominence. The BR record supports 1809 CE as an event of global climatic significance illustrating the capacity for BRs&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#160; to capture cooling events with even higher time resolution (after the radial growth is completed) and of smaller magnitude than frost rings, TRW or MXD studies to help better investigate and understand the impacts of volcanism on climate and society.&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

Progress in the search for rapid carbon-14 excursions in the tree-ring record

EGU General Assembly Conference Abstracts, Apr 1, 2017

Southwestern USA Drought over Multiple Millennia

2014 AGU Fall Meeting, Dec 17, 2014

Rapid 14C excursion at 3372-3371 BCE not observed at two different locations, a comment on Wang et al. (2017)

arXiv (Cornell University), Mar 13, 2020

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Climatic context of blue ring formation in high elevation bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva D.K. Bailey)

&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;&#39;Blue Rings&#39; (BRs) are distinct wood anatomical anomalie... more &amp;lt;p&amp;gt;&#39;Blue Rings&#39; (BRs) are distinct wood anatomical anomalies recently discovered in several tree species. Studies connect their occurrence to lower than normal temperatures during the cell wall lignification phase of xylogenesis which usually continue after radial growth is completed, following the growth season. BRs are also potentially more sensitive to temperature than frost rings which require freezing temperatures (linked with the forcing of volcanic eruptions) to form. Therefore, systematic analysis of blue rings can add another level of time resolution and/or sensitivity to dendroclimatic studies.&amp;amp;#160; North American bristlecone pine is an invaluable resource for paleoclimatological reconstruction due to its extreme longevity (its specimens are reported to commonly exceed the age of 4000 years), high durability and favourable environmental conditions which hamper decay, enabling the construction of chronologies spanning more than 8000 years. Preliminary results for the last 1000 years reveal that BRs in bristlecone pine coincide significantly with major volcanic eruptions. Detailed analysis of recorded temperature conditions in the years of BRs formation can therefore provide additional information on the impact of volcanic eruptions on climate in periods where meteorological observations are unavailable. To establish baselines for this, we present the climatic context of BR occurrence in bristlecone pine for the period since 1895 where modelled surface mean monthly temperatures are available for the grid cell pertaining to the study area location (4km spatial resolution, from PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University). A group of 83 cores of bristlecone pine (originating from the vicinity of the Sheep Mountain/Patriarch Grove area of the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest in the White Mountains of California, 37.5 W 118.2 N) was thin sectioned on a GSL 1 microtome and further prepared following G&amp;amp;#228;rtner &amp;amp; Schweingruber (2013) safranine and astrablue staining procedures to reveal lignified cell walls in red and underlignified cell walls in blue. Scanned and digitized thin-sections were measured and cross-dated noting years of BR occurrence. &amp;amp;#160;A generalized linear mixed-effects model (GLMM) was fit with mean monthly temperatures and distance from treeline (DTL) as independent variables, and a binary response variable representing the absence (0) or presence (1) of a BR in a particular year, in a particular sample. Results indicate that BRs positively correlate with mean monthly temperatures of February and October and negatively with April, June, August, September and DTL. BR formation most strongly correlates with September temperatures, and interestingly, also lacks correlation with July temperatures.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;

Blue-stained Tree Rings in Ancient Bristlecone Pine (Pinus longaeva) as a Temperature Proxy

AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts, Dec 1, 2019

A 150 year record of annual Bristlecone Pine 14C from the second millennium BC

EGU General Assembly Conference Abstracts, Apr 1, 2017

Quantifying Climate Thresholds for Bristlecone Pine Using Landscape Heterogeneity to Improve Climate Reconstructions from Tree Rings

AGUFM, Dec 1, 2012

Refining Climatic Interpretations of Lower Forest Border Bristlecone Pine Tree-Ring Chronologies Over Recent Millennia

AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts, Dec 1, 2012

Paleotemperature from high elevation tree-ring width and treeline change over 4,500 years in the Great Basin, USA

AGUFM, Dec 1, 2012

Dendroclimatic reconstructions of precipitation for the Northern Rio Grande

Cluster analyses of 20th century growth patterns in high elevation Great Basin bristlecone pine in the Snake Mountain Range, Nevada, USA

AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts, Dec 14, 2015

Modeling Potential Climatic Treeline of Great Basin Bristlecone Pine in the Snake Mountain Range, Nevada, USA

2015 AGU Fall Meeting, Dec 14, 2015

Publisher Correction: Rapid 14C excursion at 3372-3371 BCE not observed at two different locations

Nature Communications, Feb 23, 2021

The original HTML version of this Article was updated shortly after publication because the previ... more

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Formation, structure and climatic significance of blue rings and frost rings in high elevation bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva D.K. Bailey)

Quaternary Science Reviews, Sep 1, 2020

The study of anatomical irregularities in tree rings has recently gained momentum as a complement... more The study of anatomical irregularities in tree rings has recently gained momentum as a complement to traditional tree-ring measurements as they may provide information on extreme climatic events. Two anomalies, blue rings (BR) and frost rings (FR), were analyzed in bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva D.K. Bailey) trees located along an elevation gradient in northeastern Nevada. These two subannual ring anomalies were systematically compiled for two periods; one centered on 536 CE (well-known for a volcanically-induced period of climatic cooling) and the other on 1965 CE (useful due to the availability of instrumental climate data). During the period 523e545 CE (n ! 10 trees), both BR and latewood FR (LWFR) were recorded abundantly in 532 and 536, as well as a BR cluster from 539 to 542 CE. Years when trees solely recorded a BR (without an accompanying LWFR) were more frequent in the earlier period than in the modern period (1954e2006 CE; n ! 10 trees) when both anomalies tended to co-occur. These results suggest a shorter growing season in the 536 period than in the 20th century. Modern BR/LWFR were most abundant in 1965 and 1978 CE. Both anomalies were mainly observed in the highest elevation trees and both were produced in years characterized by cooler than average temperatures throughout the growing season. Anatomically, BR and LWFR did not differ significantly in tracheid dimensions except that LWFR clearly showed damages associated with sub-freezing temperatures. The main feature distinguishing BR and LWFR from "normal" tree rings was a significant reduction in latewood secondary wall thickness. In P. longaeva, BR like pale latewood (light) rings, result from short and cool growing seasons which leads to reduced (or interrupted) lignification of tracheids. In species producing extremely narrow latewood like P. longaeva it may be difficult to macroscopically identify pale latewood years, thus rendering microscopic investigation of BR as a climate proxy useful in paleoclimatic research.

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Reconstructed Temperature And Precipitation On A Millennial Timescale From Tree-Rings In The Southern Colorado Plateau, U.S.A

Climatic Change, Jun 1, 2005

Two independent calibrated and verified climate reconstructions from ecologically contrasting tre... more Two independent calibrated and verified climate reconstructions from ecologically contrasting tree-ring sites in the southern Colorado Plateau, U.S.A. reveal decadal-scale climatic trends during the past two millennia. Combining precisely dated annual mean-maximum temperature and October through July precipitation reconstructions yields an unparalleled record of climatic variability. The approach allows for the identification of thirty extreme wet periods and thirty-five extreme dry periods in the 1,425-year precipitation reconstruction and 30 extreme cool periods and 26 extreme warm periods in 2,262-year temperature reconstruction. In addition, the reconstructions were integrated to identify intervals when conditions were extreme in both climatic variables (cool/dry, cool/wet, warm/dry, warm/wet). Noteworthy in the reconstructions are the post-1976 warm/wet period, unprecedented in the 1,425-year record both in amplitude and duration, anomalous and prolonged late 20th century warmth, that while never exceeded, was nearly equaled in magnitude for brief intervals in the past, and substantial decadal-scale variability within the Medieval Warm Period and Little Ice Age intervals.

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The Role of Climate in Early Spanish–Native American Interactions in the US Southwest

Native and Spanish New Worlds