ANNUAL TO DECADAL SCALE VARIATIONS IN NORTHWEST ATLANTIC SECTOR TEMPERATURES INFERRED FROM LABRADOR TREE-RINGS

Temperature-sensitive maximum latewood density chronologies from sites near tree line in Labrador are used to infer past changes in warm-sea son surface air and sea surface temperatures for the northwest Atlanti c. Temperatures are reconstructed for the Grand Banks region based on density records from southern Labrador, while a density series from ne ar Okak Fiord, northern Labrador, is used to infer past temperature va riations for north-coastal Labrador and the adjacent Labrador Sea. The Labrador chronologies show good agreement with annual and decadal-sca le temperature fluctuations over the recent period of instrumental rec ord, and extend this temperature information into the past by several centuries. The lowest density value at the Okak site occurs in 1816, k nown as the ''year without a summer'' in eastern North America. Spectr al analyses reveal statistically significant variations with periods o f around 8.7, 18-22, and 45-66 years. These fluctuations are in genera l agreement with those identified in several instrumental and modeling analyses of North Atlantic climate.