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Climate, 1650-1850: Sierra Nevada Ecosystem Project
From this report:
"Climate exerts a profound influence on landscape by determining the flux of both energy (solar radiation) and mass (rain, snow, and water vapor). If climate changes significantly, the landscape can be expected to respond geomorphologically, hydrologically, and biologically. These individual responses, in turn, can feed on one another, creating a cascade of landscape perturbations."
"Using proxy climatic records, this chapter explores the Sierra Nevada climate of the period 1650–1850 and compares it to that of the modern (post-1850) period. The focus is on climate at the decade to century scale, rather than on individual years or meteorological events. Emphasis is placed on records from lakes, glaciers, tree lines, and tree rings that can be resolved to time scales of multiple decades or less. Other types of proxy indicators, such as pollen and pack-rat records, while indispensable for illuminating multiple-century to millennial changes in climate, are not included in this analysis."
".....it is possible to characterize the period from the mid-1600s to the mid-1800s as having been, by modern standards, abnormally cool and moderately dry. This interval was preceded by several centuries of cool and wet conditions and was followed by the relatively warm and wet conditions of the past 145 years."
climate-change, climate-history, climate-records, climate-influences, "Little Ice Age," glaciation, fire-frequency, precipatation-rate
bristlecone pine, foxtail pine, giant sequoias
Pinus balfouriana, Sequoiadendron giganteum
June 01, 1996 01:00 AM
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Sierra Nevada Mountains, Mono Lake, Pyramid Lake, Owens Lake (dry), Winnemucca Slough, White Mountains, Campito Mountains, Sheep Mountains, Cirque Peak