Tree rings are useful indicators of interannual to decadal-scale climate variability. In this paper we show that tree-ring data from the northwestern Atlantic sector may reflect the great negative salinity (GSA) and related positive sea ice anomalies of the 1960's--70's. Along with cold surface air temperatures at coastal land stations, there were declines in ring widths in the 1970's in temperature-sensitive birch trees in southern Greenland, white spruce in Labrador, and white spruce and white pine from Newfoundland. Tree-ring and other data from both sides of the North Atlantic also indicate a decadal-scale warm event, with subsequent cooling, around the 1820's--1830's. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1992