Regional and local climate responses in a Central American tree-ring chronology network

Keywords: climate, drought, paleoclimate, forests, tree rings, Guatemala, Honduras, Central America
Session Type: Virtual Paper
Day: Friday
Session Start / End Time: 4/9/2021 03:05 PM (Pacific Time (US & Canada)) - 4/9/2021 04:20 PM (Pacific Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 30

Abstract

Central America is one of the most vulnerable regions in the world to anticipated precipitation declines as a consequence of anthropogenic climate change. Sparse and often conflicting observational data, high spatial heterogeneity in rainfall, natural variability, and a lack of high-resolution paleoclimate proxies limit our knowledge of past climate extremes and our ability to detect and attribute recent trends in the region. Here we explore regional-scale and local-scale signals of precipitation variability within a network of tree-ring chronologies developed over the last several years in Guatemala and Honduras. Regional-scale signals provide records of interannual to decadal-scale variability from the Highlands of Guatemala to western Honduras and represent synchronous large-scale climate influences across the region. We evaluate the influences of elevation, aspect, local climate departures, and disturbance in order to explain the site-specific differences in ring-width variability. We explore the potential for the network to provide sufficient information for a spatial reconstruction to assess large-scale links to ocean-atmosphere variability beyond the instrumental record. Ultimately, this network provides a more comprehensive understanding of regional hydroclimate variability and broad-scale ocean-atmosphere influences in Central America.