date: Mon Sep  3 15:51:52 2007
from: Keith Briffa <k.briffa@uea.ac.uk>
subject: Your sumission to the Holocene.
to: bjorn.gunnarson@natgeo.su.se

   Dear Bjorn
   Below is (Tom,s) review of your paper. It is generally favourable and I do not consider it
   necessary to get another opinion. If you would deal with all these points in a revised
   version , we would be happy to publish. Please pay particular attention to the specific
   formatting details in your revised submision and send this to me for checking (along with
   details of how specific points have been addressed) , I will then forward , if acceptable,
   to John Matthews.
   Thanks
   Keith
   Review : Temporal distribution pattern of subfossil pines in central Sweden Perspectives on
   Holocene humidity fluctuations - Bjorn Gunnarson

   The data presented are generally useful and well worth publication. A number of relatively
   minor changes, many to do with the use of English, need to be made.

   List of numbers presented in abstract. Probably best shown in a figure with centuries
   marked e.g. in an adjustment of Figure 5 and then mentioned in the discussion of this
   figure and referred to as a list of periods when .. in the abstract.

   Is there a problem with preservation e.g. does the lake level control the preservation of
   wood e.g. trees that die when lake levels are dropping may not be preserved?

   That tree growth ceased 6000 years ago at the highest altitude site suggests an altitudinal
   problem. RCS method presumes trees from similar altitude (or same altitudinal distribution
   over time). You probably need to mention this somewhere.

   Detailed comments (suggestions):

   All references to figures should be consistent e.g. Figure 3

   Abstract
   Replace oldest trees with trees from the earliest periods
   Replace the time for tree growth with the time of tree growth
   Remove list of numbers entirely.

   P2, para 1 Do you mean accurately-dated changes rather than high-resolution changes?

   P2, para 2 Sentence What do we know about can be removed.

   P2, para2 - Has precipitation always been controlled by temperature Payette 2000 refers to
   the most recent Millenium only and to a different continent?

   P2, para 3 Replace were in Sweden with in Sweden were.

   P2, para 3 Replace thus affect the bog hydrologies were with affect the bog hydrologies and
   were.

   P3, para 2 end Replace when level with when the level

   P3, para 3 Replace The results from the studies with The results from studies

   P4, para 1 Replace in dependence of with dependant on.

   P4, para 3 Replace dendrochronology with tree-ring chronology.

   P5, para 2 Replace 830-560 m with 560-830 m.

   P6, para 1 Replace before being hoist to shore. A diver with in situ after which a diver.
   Replace after it could be by to enable the log to be.

   P6, para 1 Replace All discs were with Where possible, discs were

   P7, para1 Could add sentence to say that similar methods to Gunnarson 2002, Holocene were
   used.

   P7, para 1 Replace is known to by can. Replace longer climatic by long-timescale variance
   of climatic.

   P7, para 2 Replace In executing this method, by Ideally,. Replace Lower by here, because
   the lower. Replace which creates an uncertainty of the by creating uncertainty as to the.
   Replace I made the assumption that with The assumption was made that. Replace implies by
   assumes. Replace when the series were produced by when the trees grew. Do you mean
   different periods of time rather than different age classes. What is meant by form? The
   bias is to the shape of the RCS curve.

   P7-8, para 4-2 Could not find Figure 7?

   P8 Discussion replace with Results and Discussion

   P8, para3       Replace pines is still with pine samples still. Need to say relative to how
   fewer (trees or sites) .
   Replace Fig 4 with Figure 4b

   P8, para 4 Replace pine sample depth with pine sample counts

   P9, para 1, last sentence rapidly and quickly are vague. You need to say that the reaction
   wood was found near outside of the stem (if it was) one (2 or 3 ?) decades before
   mortality.

   P9, para 2 It is unlikely that an unsuccessful germination has occurred ????

   P9, para 3 low growth coincides with Is this water-table induced mortality and low
   germination or is low temperature induced?

   P10, para 2 as fire refugee ?? maybe limits the spread of fire

   P11 para 1- Replace The observed differences decrease with The number of collected samples
   which are correctly dated (Table 1) will increase ..

   P11, para 2 depth. This could not have been possible replace with depth rules out the
   possibility of

   P11, para 3 for an open replace with of an open
                           were partly representative for replace with included
                           dampened replace with damped
                           with open replace with with an open

   P12 280mm + 1.5 * 30 = ??? Are numbers correct.

   P12, para 4 no indications of varying temperature Are the tree-line changes a proxy measure
   of this i.e. your highest lake has no trees from recent millennia? Would no indications of
   varying temperature of sufficient magnitude to produce a negative water balance

   P13, para 1 Do you mean humidity or precipitation?

   P13 Conclusions
   summer temperature variability you did not show this in this paper

   Should temporal variations and be temporal variations of.

   Figure 1 caption. What is NW?
   Replace 1-7. Table 1 lake names. with 1-7 and described in Table 1.
   Replace Squares adjacent to Lake Annsjon marks the with Inset are large scale maps
   indicating the location of the sampled region within Sweden and squares adjacent to Lake
   Annsjon mark the.

   Figure 4 RCS chronology needs variance adjustment for sample count. Scale needs to be from
   5000 BC to 2000AD. The trees at 2000 (count of nearly 100) do not appear to be sub-fossil
   from lakes either remove or explain e.g. in method, were they used in RCS curve etc?

   Figure 5 may be better presented with a line for each tree so that germination periods can
   be highlighted e.g. Figs 4 and 5,  Leuschner, Holocene special issue 2002 would be clearer
   with only 350 samples.

   Table 1 Use North and East instead of x and y and make units clear e.g. 70.060.

   Tom Melvin
