We describe new reconstructions of northern extratropical summer temperatur
es for nine subcontinental-scale regions and a composite series representin
g quasi "Northern Hemi sphere" temperature change over the last 600 years.
These series are based on tree ring density data that have been processed u
sing a novel statistical technique (age band decomposition) designed to pre
serve greater long-timescale variability than in previous analyses. We prov
ide time-dependent and timescale-dependent uncertainty estimates for all of
the reconstructions. The new regional estimates are generally cooler in al
most all precalibration periods, compared to estimates obtained using earli
er processing methods, particularly during the 17th century. One exception
is the reconstruction for northern Siberia, where 15th century summers are
now estimated to be warmer than those observed in the 20th century. In prod
ucing a new Northern Hemisphere series we demonstrate the sensitivity of th
e results to the methodology used once the number of regions with data, and
the reliability of each regional series, begins to decrease. We compare ou
r new hemisphere series to other published large-regional temperature histo
ries, most of which lie within the lo confidence band of our estimates over
most of the last 600 years. The 20th century is clearly shown by all of th
e palaeoseries composites to be the warmest during this period.