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Cook et al. 2002
Cook, E.R., Palmer, J.G. and D'Arrigo, R.D. (2002). Evidence for a ‘Medieval Warm Period’ in a 1,100 year tree-ring reconstruction of past austral summer temperatures in New Zealand. Geophysical Research Letters 29: doi: 10.1029/2001GL014580. issn: 0094-8276.

The occurrence of the Medieval Warm Period (MWP) in the Southern Hemisphere is uncertain because of the paucity of well-dated, high-resolution paleo-temperature records covering the past 1,000 years. We describe a new tree-ring reconstruction of Austral summer temperatures from the South Island of New Zealand, covering the past 1,100 years. This record is the longest yet produced for New Zealand and shows clear evidence for persistent above-average temperatures within the interval commonly assigned to the MWP. Comparisons with selected temperature proxies from the Northern and Southern Hemispheres confirm that the MWP was highly variable in time and space. Regardless, the New Zealand temperature reconstruction supports the global occurrence of the MWP.

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Abstract

Keywords
Oceanography, General, Dendrochronology, Oceanography, General, Climate and interannual variability, Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics, Climatology, Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics, Paleoclimatology, Global Change, Climate dynamics
Journal
Geophysical Research Letters
http://www.agu.org/journals/gl/
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
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