Dendroclimatic reconstruction of the precipitation series in the Polaciones valley (Cantabria)

A dendroclimatic reconstruction is carried out using the data from nine chronologies of the Fagus sylvatica taxon spread out in Polaciones, a valley of the central Cantabrian Mountains. The paper is based on a reliable and replicable statistical relationship between the climatic reference data of the Climatic Research Unit and the growth ring chronologies. The results obtained in the growth-climate relationship for the precipitation are statistically significant for the months of April to August, which helps reconstruct the interannual variations of this between 1798 and 2011, thus covering a period in which instrumental records are not available. Moreover, a reference series for the analysis area is drawn up and the favourable and unfavourable years in the growth of the species are calculated. The search for coincidences that help understand the behaviour of Fagus sylvatica in response to the climate in its southern area of distribution in Europe calls for the estimation of the dry and wet years obtained from the reconstruction, which are related to the growth.