Tree-ring stable isotopes are insightful proxies providing information on pre-instrumental climate fluctuations, yet the variability of these data within a tree trunk has not been fully explored. Here, we analyze longitudinal and circumferential changes in tree-ring delta C-13 values from 1991-2010, considering seven height levels from 1 to 13 m above ground and six sampling directions (radii) separated by 60 degrees around the stem. The disk samples were taken from a 360-year old European larch (Larix decidua Mill.) that grew at 1675 m above sea level in the Simplon Valley, Switzerland. Results show that the circumferential delta C-13 variability, defined as the difference between the minimum and maximum isotope values within a single ring at a certain height, ranges from 0.5 to 2.8 parts per thousand. These differences appear substantial as they match the range of year-to-year variations retained in long tree-ring delta C-13 time series used for climate reconstruction. The assessment of longitudinal variability demonstrated a systematic change of similar to 0.1 parts per thousand m(-1) towards isotopically heavier (less negative) delta C-13 values with increasing tree height, likely reflecting a vertical gradient towards isotopically heavier needle tissue due to changing microclimatic conditions and CO2 stratification within the canopy. Calibration against regional climate data indicates no substantial signal changes in delta C-13 values within the trunk. We conclude that the longitudinal isotope gradient adds uncertainty to long delta C-13 chronologies derived from subfossil material of unknown (and changing) sampling heights. The large circumferential variability recorded in the sub-alpine larch suggests that more than two cores are needed to analyze absolute delta C-13 values representative for each tree.

Climate model projections suggest widespread drying in the Mediterranean Basin and wetting in Fennoscandia in the coming decades largely as a consequence of greenhouse gas forcing of climate. To place these and other Old World climate projections into historical perspective based on more complete estimates of natural hydroclimatic variability, we have developed the Old World Drought Atlas (OWDA), a set of year-to-year maps of tree-ring reconstructed summer wetness and dryness over Europe and the Mediterranean Basin during the Common Era. The OWDA matches historical accounts of severe drought and wetness with a spatial completeness not previously available. In addition, megadroughts reconstructed over north-central Europe in the 11th and mid-15th centuries reinforce other evidence from North America and Asia that droughts were more severe, extensive, and prolonged over Northern Hemisphere land areas before the 20th century, with an inadequate understanding of their causes. The OWDA provides new data to determine the causes of Old World drought and wetness and attribute past climate variability to forced and/or internal variability.