(ORDO NEWS) — Scientists at Columbia University and other US scientific organizations analyzed tree rings and found that the abnormally hot summer of 2021 set a thousand-year record for high temperatures since 950 AD.
The researchers studied approximately 600 old conifers during the summer of 2020 and 2021 at high elevation sites in U.S. national forests and parks, northern Idaho, and the Cascade Ranges of Oregon and Washington.
They measured the intensity of the blue wavelength reflected from the wood. The denser rings formed at high temperatures reflect less blue light.
Most of the hottest summer seasons have been since 2000.
The second warmest period, indicated by tree rings, was between 1028 and 1096, at the height of the so-called Medieval climate anomaly, when much of the planet is thought to have warmed naturally.
Another notable hot period lasted from 1319 to 1307. But even these periods were significantly lower than temperatures in recent decades.
The 2021 heat wave lasted several weeks from late June to mid-July.
Although the researchers have not attempted to isolate such short periods in the rings, seasonal averages are strongly associated with such events.
In the summer of 2021, an annual record of 18.9 degrees Celsius was set. In contrast, the hottest summer in prehistoric times was in 1080, with an average temperature of 16.9 degrees Celsius.
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