Table Of ContentArchaeoclimatology
Atlas of Oregon
The Modeled Distribution in
Space and Time of Past Climates
Reid A. Bryson, Katherine McEnaney DeWall, and Alison Stenger
The Archaeoclimatology
Atlas of Oregon
Archaeoclimatology
Atlas of Oregon
The Modeled Distribution in Space and Time
of the Past Climates of Oregon
Reid A. Bryson, Katherine McEnaney DeWall, and Alison Stenger
The University of Utah Press
Salt Lake City
Copyright © 2009 by The University of Utah Press. All rights reserved.
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976,
no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted
in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system,
without the prior written permission of the publisher.
The Defiance House Man colophon is a registered trademark
of the University of Utah Press. It is based upon a four-foot-tall,
Ancient Puebloan pictograph (late PIII) near Glen Canyon, Utah.
12 11 10 09 08 1 2 3 4 5
ISBN: 978-0-87480-926-8 (paper)
ISBN: 978-1-60781-953-0 (ebook)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bryson, Reid A.
The archaeoclimatology atlas of Oregon : the modeled distribution in space and time of the past climates
of Oregon / Reid A. Bryson, Katherine McEnaney DeWall, and Alison Stenger.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-87480-926-8 (paper)
ISBN 978-1-60781-953-0 (ebook)
1. Paleoclimatology—Oregon. 2. Oregon—Climate.
3. Human beings—Effect of climate on—Oregon. 4. Human ecology—Oregon—History.
I. DeWall, Katherine McEnaney. II. Stenger, Alison. III. Title.
QC884.5.O7B79 2009
551.69795—dc22 2009003743
Contents
Publisher’s Note vi
The Ochoco–Blue Mountains Ridge: Austin, Ironside,
Section A n climatology for the Field Scientist
John Day, Mitchell, Paulina, Prineville, and
Chapter 1. Archaeoclimatology: An Introduction 3 Seneca 175
Chapter 2. Statewide Climate Mapping 11 The Northeast: Baker, Elgin, La Grande, Ukiah, and
Wallowa 201
The High Desert: Bend and Brothers 221
Section B n Western oregon
Chapter 3. Case Study: Salem 17
Section D n the interior Basin
Chapter 4. Case Study: The Portland Basin and Lake
River Region 21 Chapter 8. Case Study: Diamond Pond, Voltage 231
Chapter 5. Models for Western Oregon 27 Anthony H. Ruter and Reid A. Bryson
The Northwest Coast: Clatskanie, Nehalem, Chapter 9: Models for the Interior Basin 235
Newport, Seaside, St. Helens, Summit, The Western Great Basin: Adel, Chemult, Fremont,
and Tillamook 29 Klamath Falls, Malin, Paisley, Sprague River,
The Southwest: Ashland, Brookings, Coquille City, and Valley Falls 236
Fern Ridge Dam, Gold Beach, Grants Pass, The Eastern Great Basin: Alkali Lake, Beulah, Burns
Honeyman, and Roseburg—48 Junction, Burns WSO, Hart Mountain Refuge,
The Portland Basin: Portland 75 McDermitt, Owyhee Dam, P Ranch Refuge,
The Willamette Valley: Corvallis, Eugene, McMinnville, Riverside, Sheaville, Vale, and Wagontire 264
North Willamette Experiment Station, and
Stayton 79
Section e n Storms and Rivers
The Cascades: Bonneville Dam, Cascadia, Cottage
Grove Dam, Crater Lake, Detroit Dam, Idleyld Chapter 10. Typhoons and the Middle
Park, Lost Creek Dam, McKenzie Bridge, Holocene 311
Odell Lake East, and Three Lynx 98 Chapter 11. Case Study: River Modeling near
Woodburn 317
Chapter 12. Modeled River Discharge 323
Section c n the columbia Plateau and Valleys
Deschutes at Mecca, John Day at McDonald Ferry,
Chapter 6. Case Study: Wildcat Canyon, Molalla at Wilhoit, Owyhee at Rome, Rogue
Arlington 139 at Agness, Umpqua at Elkton, Willamette
Chapter 7. Models for the Columbia Plateau and at Portland, and Willamina Creek at
Valleys 145 Willamina 324
The Plateau: Antelope, Dufur, Heppner, Kent,
Metolius, Mikkalo, Monument, and Epilogue 333
Pendleton 146 References 335
Publisher’s Note
Seventy-two full-color, supplemental spatial maps not
included in the printed volume may be accessed free of
charge at the University of Utah Press Web site, www.Uof
Upress.com. Please look for the link to the maps on the
book’s main page. Available supplemental spatial maps in-
clude precipitation, annual temperature, evaporation, pre-
cipitation minus evaporation, and snowfall in increments
every 1,000 rcybp, from 13,000 rcybp to the present.
Section A
Climatology for
the Field Scientist
This book is not a definitive treatment of the past cli-
mates of the state of Oregon, nor is it so intended. We
present here a set of robust hypotheses of what the
climate might have been at various places at various
times, especially in the Holocene climatic time. The
method by which this climatic past was calculated was
developed specifically for the use of field scientists such
as archaeologists, ecologists, and geomorphologists.
The first section of the Atlas (A) provides the cli-
matic and scientific foundations of the climatic model
used and an overview of the general climatic peri-
ods in Oregon. The next three sections (B–D) divide
the state of Oregon into three major climatological
and topographic areas. Each section begins with one
or two case study applications of the model to spe-
cific sites and questions in Oregon. The final section (E)
presents case studies and models for storms and riv-
ers. Each section also contains a chapter of model out-
put graphs for each individually modeled site within
the state so that researchers can apply the model out-
put to their specific area(s) of interest. The Atlas seeks
to demonstrate the range of potential utility of Macro-
physical Climate Modeling (MCM) for archaeological,
environmental, and climatological questions about Or-
egon’s past. Users may calculate similar models for any
place in the world for which modern calibration data
are available—on their own personal computer (Bry-
son and DeWall, ed. 2007). We hope they will.
1
Archaeoclimatology: An introduction
Archaeoclimatology, also called Macrophysical Climate theory is approached. Such definitions suggest that cli-
Mo del ing (MCM), was developed in the mid-1990s by mate does not have a body of theory distinct from that of
Reid A. Bryson and Robert U. Bryson as an alternative to weather, but atmospheric scientists disagree.
iterative general circulation models (GCMs) to produce Climate cannot be viewed as simply a statistical sum-
results at a spatial and temporal scale useful for a variety of mary of the daily weather; this definition is not functional
social, natural, and earth sciences. Unlike the wide assort- even within meteorology. Any experienced meteorolo-
ment of GCMs in the literature, MCM takes a top-down, gist can identify the atmospheric circulation pattern on a
rather than bottom-up, approach to model building. This weather map immediately as a summer pattern or a win-
chapter provides the basic meteorological knowledge nec- ter pattern. This is possible because the array of character-
essary to understand and successfully interpret the model istic weather patterns differs from one season to another,
and its results. Additional technical details about the con- as a result of the climate differing from season to season.
struction of the model are available in the published lit- To understand this statement, we must understand that
erature. For a comprehensive overview, please refer to climate is a boundary condition problem: the dynamic
Bryson (2005) and Bryson and DeWall (ed. 2007). For status of the earth-atmosphere system determines the
more detailed descriptions of various components, refer array of possible weather patterns. The “climate as average
to Bryson (1988, 1989, 1992), R. A. Bryson and R. U. Bry- weather” view assumes the opposite: that climate is deter-
son (1997b, 2000), Bryson et al. (2006), and Bryson and mined by whatever weather there happened to be. “These
Goodman (1986). ‘boundary conditions’ force the state of the climate sys-
tem, which in turn produces and requires sets of weather
complexes, which differ as the climate differs from one
the Definition of climate:
time to another” (R. U. Bryson and R. A. Bryson 1997:3).
Basic Meteorological concepts
This changing status (and the resulting weather patterns)
The Oxford English Dictionary (second edition, 1989) de- is what constitutes the climate. Such a top-down approach
fines climate as “the condition (of a region or country) (from the climate and boundary conditions to the possi-
in relation to prevailing atmospheric phenomena, as tem- ble weather patterns) is the foundation of what is called
perature, dryness or humidity, wind, clearness or dullness synoptic (or large-scale) climatology.
of sky, etc., esp. as these affect human, animal, or vegetable
life.” For meteorologists, a commonly cited definition is
centers of Action, now and in the Past
that of the Glossary of Meteorology: climate as “the synthe-
sis of the weather” (Huschke 1959). For geographers, the The term “centers of action” was created by Teisserenc de
classical definition is similar: “Climate … refers to a more Bort (1883) to define the mean centers of high and low
enduring regime of the atmosphere; it is an abstract con- sea-level pressure that “represent the principal circulation
cept. It represents a composite of the day-to-day weather features that help determine mid-latitude weather and
conditions, and of the atmospheric elements, within a wind systems” (Barry and Carleton 2001:209–210). These
specified area over a long period of time” (Trewartha and centers of action are the boundary conditions referred to
Horn 1980), or “climate is the sum total of the weather ex- above that define the climate and determine the potential
perienced at a place in the course of the year and over the weather patterns. These centers are also referred to as sub-
years” (Lamb 1972). These views see climate as essentially tropical highs. The jet stream and Intertropical Conver-
a summation of the weather (or average weather), and gence (ITC, sometimes erroneously called the Intertropi-
this viewpoint has profound implications for how climate cal Convergence Zone, or ITCZ) also determine weather
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