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| Titel |
Simulated climate variability in the region of Rapa Nui during the last millennium |
| VerfasserIn |
C. Junk, M. Claussen |
| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| ISSN |
1814-9324
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| Digitales Dokument |
URL |
| Erschienen |
In: Climate of the Past ; 7, no. 2 ; Nr. 7, no. 2 (2011-06-06), S.579-586 |
| Datensatznummer |
250004518
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 copernicus.org/cp-7-579-2011.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
| Rapa Nui, an isolated island in the Southeast Pacific, was
settled by the Polynesians most likely around 1200 AD
and was discovered by the Europeans in 1722 AD. While the
Polynesians presumably found a profuse palm woodland on Rapa
Nui, the Europeans faced a landscape dominated by
grassland. Scientists have examined potential anthropogenic,
biological and climatic induced vegetation changes on Rapa Nui.
Here, we analyse observational climate data for the
last decades and climate model results for the period
800–1750 AD to explore the potential for
a climatic-induced vegetation change. A direct influence of
the ENSO phenomenon on the climatic parameters of Rapa
Nui could not be found in the model
simulations. Furthermore, strong climatic trends from a warm
Medieval Period to a Little Ice Age or rapid climatic
fluctuations due to large volcanic eruptions were not
verifiable for the Rapa Nui region, although they are
detectable in the simulations for many regions world
wide. Hence, we tentatively conclude that large-scale climate
changes in the oceanic region around Rapa Nui might be
too small to explain strong vegetation changes on the island
over the last millennium. |
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