Abstract
In this case study, set in south-west Slovenia, the feasibility of reconstructing green water (the combined amount of evaporated and transpired water in trees and available in the soil) was investigated. In a simplified scheme, the amounts of green water were calculated as the difference between precipitation and discharge of the Rižana river. Based on the methods of dendroclimatology, the climate signal was tested on black pine (Pinus nigra Arnold) trees growing in the south-western part of the Rižana watershed near the Slovenian sea coast. Results showed that the measured tree-ring parameters of tree-ring width and density are strongly dependent on the amount of green water. The strongest correlation was between available green water in the period May–August and tree-ring width (r = 0.61) and latewood width (r = 0.64) (both n = 46, p < 0.001). The climate signal is significant and stable through time, which enabled the reconstruction of green water data into the period before instrumentally measured data. Green water data from the May–August period were extended from 1966 back to 1937 using tree-ring width, and back to 1940 using latewood width. With additional coring of older trees and the extension of existing chronologies, even longer reconstructions could be developed.
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Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank Ed Eaton from Forest Research (UK) for language check and Mladen Prebevšek, Slovenian Forestry Service for his field cooperation. A special thanks also to the Slovenian Science Foundation, as well as the World Federation of Scientists for supporting the work of Simon Poljanšek. This research was financially supported by the Slovenian Research Agency project grant J4-5519 “Paleoclimate data enhances drought prediction in the W Balkan region” and the Program and Research group P4-0107 “Forest ecology, biology and technology” of the Slovenian Forestry Institute funded by the Slovenian Research Agency.
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Poljanšek, S., Vilhar, U. & Levanič, T. Green water reconstructed for Rižana watershed, SW Slovenia. Environ Earth Sci 77, 92 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-018-7278-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-018-7278-9