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<front>
<journal-meta>
<journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">EGUsphere</journal-id>
<journal-title-group>
<journal-title>EGUsphere</journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="publisher">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="nlm-ta">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
</journal-title-group>
<issn pub-type="epub"></issn>
<publisher><publisher-name>Copernicus Publications</publisher-name>
<publisher-loc>Göttingen, Germany</publisher-loc>
</publisher>
</journal-meta>
<article-meta>
<article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.5194/egusphere-2025-4494</article-id>
<title-group>
<article-title>Unlocking the potential of pollarded oaks: A 375&amp;ndash;year hydroclimate reconstruction from northcentral Spain</article-title>
</title-group>
<contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Sanmiguel-Vallelado</surname>
<given-names>Alba</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6884-1728</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Torbenson</surname>
<given-names>Max C. A.</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Esper</surname>
<given-names>Jan</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3919-014X</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Sangüesa-Barreda</surname>
<given-names>Gabriel</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Prado-López</surname>
<given-names>Carlos</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff4">
<sup>4</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Olano</surname>
<given-names>José Miguel</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
</contrib-group><aff id="aff1">
<label>1</label>
<addr-line>EiFAB-iuFOR, Universidad de Valladolid, Soria, 42004, Spain</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff2">
<label>2</label>
<addr-line>Department of Geography, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, 55099, Germany</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff3">
<label>3</label>
<addr-line>Global Change Research Institute, Czech Academy of Sciences, Brno 603 00, Czech Republic</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff4">
<label>4</label>
<addr-line>Fundación para la Investigación del Clima, Madrid, 28040, Spain</addr-line>
</aff>
<pub-date pub-type="epub">
<day>13</day>
<month>10</month>
<year>2025</year>
</pub-date>
<volume>2025</volume>
<fpage>1</fpage>
<lpage>26</lpage>
<permissions>
<copyright-statement>Copyright: &#x000a9; 2025 Alba Sanmiguel-Vallelado et al.</copyright-statement>
<copyright-year>2025</copyright-year>
<license license-type="open-access">
<license-p>This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit <ext-link ext-link-type="uri"  xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</ext-link></license-p>
</license>
</permissions>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2025/egusphere-2025-4494/">This article is available from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2025/egusphere-2025-4494/</self-uri>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2025/egusphere-2025-4494/egusphere-2025-4494.pdf">The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2025/egusphere-2025-4494/egusphere-2025-4494.pdf</self-uri>
<abstract>
<p>Pollarded trees&amp;mdash;traditionally pruned and maintained for centuries near rural settlements&amp;mdash;represent an untapped resource for climate reconstruction in Mediterranean lowlands. In this study, we evaluate the potential of 102 pollarded deciduous oaks from two communal woodlands (&lt;em&gt;dehesas&lt;/em&gt;) in northcentral Spain as proxies for past hydroclimatic variability. Using the correlation between latewood and November&amp;ndash;June precipitation, we reconstruct regional precipitation variability from 1649 to 2023, achieving calibration/verification correlations of 0.71&amp;ndash;0.83 against regional and large-scale instrumental datasets. The reconstruction reveals pronounced interannual to multidecadal variability, with precipitation ranging from 250 mm to 815 mm. The longest dry spell lasted 25 years (1818&amp;ndash;1842), while the wettest sustained period extended over 29 years (1953&amp;ndash;1981). We identify 14 extremely dry years (&amp;lt; 298 mm) and 24 extremely wet years (&amp;gt; 592 mm). Extreme droughts during the pre-instrumental period coincide with historical records, such as Catholic &lt;em&gt;pro pluvia&lt;/em&gt; rogations&amp;mdash;ceremonies traditionally held in response to agricultural drought&amp;mdash;in 1683, 1698, 1734, 1737, 1738, 1775, 1868 and 1898. Our findings demonstrate that pollarded trees, when sampled from sites with asynchronous management, preserve robust climate signals and provide reliable high-resolution information on precipitation variability across Mediterranean &lt;em&gt;dehesas&lt;/em&gt;.</p>
</abstract>
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<funding-group>
<award-group id="gs1">
<funding-source>Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación</funding-source>
<award-id>PID2023-147214NB-I00</award-id>
<award-id>JDC2022-048316-I</award-id>
</award-group>
<award-group id="gs2">
<funding-source>Banco Santander</funding-source>
<award-id>Movilidad Investigadores e Investigadoras UVa-Banco Santander 2024</award-id>
</award-group>
</funding-group>
</article-meta>
</front>
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