tree-rings

Tree Ring Research Laboratory

PI(s):

Edward R. Cook

PI(s):

Gordon C. Jacoby

PI(s):

Rosanne D'Arrigo

PI(s):

Brendan M. Buckley

PI(s):

Kevin Anchukaitis

PI(s):

Neil Pederson

Tree-Ring Lab (TRL) scientists are dedicated to expanding the use and application of tree-ring research around the world to improve our understanding of past climate and environmental history. Current research concentrates on the use of tree-ring data networks to study regional climate, global climate teleconnections and anthropogenic impacts on forest growth.

Exploring new species in new regions, building collaborations around the world, and developing new quantitative techniques, TRL researchers are committed to advancing dendrochronology and paleoclimatology, as well as the ethic of good science

Website:

Tree Ring Research Laboratory

Name	Title	Fields of interest
Neil Pederson	Lamont Assistant Research Professor	Terrestrial Ecosystems, Dendrochronology, Dendroclimatology, Forest Ecosystems, Disturbance Ecology
Laia Andreu Hayles	Lamont Assistant Research Professor	Dendroclimatology, Paleoclimatology and Ecology in Mediterranean, Boreal and Tropical ecosystems.
Brendan M. Buckley	Lamont Associate Research Professor	Dendrochronology, Dendroclimatology, Tropical Forest Ecosystems, Arctic Treeline Studies
Edward R. Cook	Ewing Lamont Research Professor
Gordon C. Jacoby	Special Research Scientist
Rosanne D'Arrigo	Lamont Research Professor
Kevin Anchukaitis	Adjunct Associate Research Scientist	paleoclimatology, dendroclimatology, tropical dendrochronology, stable isotope biogeochemistry, climate field reconstruction and statistics, forward modeling
Nicole K. Davi	Postdoctoral Research Fellow	Paleoclimatology, Drought and Hydrometeorological Reconstructions, Climate Change, Dendrochronology, Science Education & Outreach, Paleoarchaeology, Sustainability, Climate Risk Management

In Log Coffins, First Glimpses of a Mysterious Asian People

May 07, 2012

Dendrochronologist Brendan Buckley’s usual occupation is drilling straw-like cores from old trees and extracting information about past climates by studying their rings. To extend the record beyond the time of living trees, he sometimes takes samples from long-dead trees, or even from timbers in ancient buildings. In 2010, the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory scientist was part of a team that traveled into the remote Cardamom Mountains of southern Cambodia to investigate human burials contained in coffins carved from entire logs.
Trees on Tundra’s Border Are Growing Faster in a Hotter Climate

November 10, 2011

Evergreen trees at the edge of Alaska’s tundra are growing faster, suggesting that at least some forests may be adapting to a rapidly warming climate, says a new study.
Studying the Farthest-North Trees

July 12, 2011

A team led by Kevin Anchukaitis of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory Tree Ring Lab is currently in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, studying the effects of changing climate on trees. Ferried in by a bush pilot who landed on the tundra to drop them off, they are practically at treeline–the place where it is too far north for trees to grow. But there are still some spindly white spruces here, and they are taking cores from these, which can be used to measure weather of the past.
Tree Rings Open Door on 1100 Years of El Niño

May 26, 2011

El Niño and La Niña, the periodic shifts in Pacific Ocean temperatures, affect weather around the globe, and many scientists have speculated that a warming planet will make those fluctuations more volatile, bringing more intense drought or extreme rainfall to various regions.
Maybe Ben Franklin Was Wrong

April 06, 2011

The eruption of the Laki volcano in Iceland in 1783-84 set off a cascade of catastrophe, spewing sulfuric clouds into Europe and eventually around the world.
Signals of Past Say Big Droughts Can Hit U.S. East

March 23, 2011

Scientists examining rings from old trees spanning the last 400 years say they show that the U.S. East Coast has suffered droughts longer and more frequent than anything recorded in modern times.
Volcanoes Have Shifted Asian Rainfall

November 03, 2010

Scientists have long known that large volcanic explosions can affect the weather by spewing particles that block solar energy and cool the air. Some suspect that extended “volcanic winters” from gigantic blowups helped kill off dinosaurs and Neanderthals...
Irrigation’s Cooling Effects May Mask Warming, For Now

September 07, 2010

Expanded irrigation has made it possible to feed the world’s growing billions—and it may also temporarily be counteracting the effects of climate change in some regions, say scientists in a new study. But some major groundwater aquifers, a source of irrigation water, are projected to dry up in coming decades from continuing overuse, and when they do, people may face the double whammy of food shortages and higher temperatures.
Twentieth Century One of Driest for Northwest Africa in 900 Years

May 27, 2010

Some of the worst droughts to hit North Africa in the last 900 years have occurred recently—in the late 20th century—according to an analysis of tree rings that has provided the most lengthy and detailed climate record yet for this sub-tropical region on the Mediterranean.
In Upstate New York, 42,225 Daily Temperature Readings, and Counting

May 06, 2010

Every day since Jan. 1, 1896, an observer has hiked up a grey outcrop of rock to a spot at The Mohonk Preserve, a resort and nature area some 90 miles north of New York City, to record daily temperature and other conditions there.
Study Reconstructs Asia's Most Devastating Droughts

April 21, 2010

The seasonal monsoon rains in Asia feed nearly half the world’s population, and when the rains fail to come, people can go hungry, or worse. A new study of tree rings provides the most detailed record yet of at least four epic droughts that have shaken Asia over the last thousand years..
Did Climate Influence Angkor's Collapse?

March 29, 2010

Decades of drought, interspersed with intense monsoon rains, may have helped bring about the fall of Cambodia’s ancient Khmer civilization at Angkor nearly 600 years ago, according to an analysis of tree rings, archeological remains and other evidence.
‘Killer’ Southeast Drought Low on Scale, Says Study

September 30, 2009

A 2005-2007 dry spell in the southeastern United States destroyed billions of dollars of crops, drained municipal reservoirs and sparked legal wars among a half-dozen states—but the havoc came not from exceptional dryness but booming population and bad planning, says a new study.
Volcanoes Cool the Tropics, Say Researchers

January 06, 2009

But Global Warming May Have Helped Override Some Recent Eruptions

Climate researchers have shown that big volcanic eruptions over the past 450 years have temporarily cooled weather in the tropics—but suggest that such effects may have been masked in the 20^th century by rising global temperatures
Scientists Reconstruct the History of Drought for North America

October 07, 2004

Researchers from the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of The Earth Institute at Columbia University have used 835 annual tree-ring chronologies based on measurements from 20- to 30-thousand tree samples across the United States, Mexico, and parts of Canada to reconstruct a history of drought over the last 2005 years. The resulting drought reconstructions have been organized into a North American Drought Atlas CD-ROM, the first of its kind, which maps year-by-year occurrences of droughts.


	The Páramos	Climate change threatens a fragile ecosystem in the Andes
	Ancient Trees Reveal Environmental Histories	Part of the 2011 Public Lecture Series
	Tree Rings, Climate Change and the Rainy Season
	A Natural History of the Palisades	Public Lecture, 2005