Tree Rings and Climate: Sharpening the Focus - Dendroclimatology - page 330

Chapter 11
Tree Rings and Climate: Sharpening the Focus

Malcolm K. Hughes, Henry F. Diaz, and Thomas W. Swetnam

Abstract A brief overview is given of the major contributions of dendroclima-
tology to current knowledge and understanding of climate variability and change.
Particular attention is given to: (1) greatly enhanced information on the spectrum of
climate variability, especially on interannual, decadal, and multidecadal timescales;
(2) the history of regional to hemispheric temperatures over recent centuries; (3)
the probable causes of the variability seen in tree-ring and other records over the
past millennium; (4) attempts to determine the quantity 'climate sensitivity' of the
Earth's climate system; and (5) reconstructions of the behavior of circulation fea-
tures and of regional climates, notably drought. Emphasis is given to the importance
of regional, continental, and broader-scale networks, as well as to a wide array
of technical advances, in making these achievements possible. Then an impres-
sive array of applications is discussed, ranging from ecology and hydrology to
anthropology and archaeology. Finally, attention is given to the prospects for den-
droclimatology, and in particular to suggestions for making best use of its strengths
and for overcoming its weaknesses.

Keywords Dendroclimatology · Tree rings · Climate reconstruction · Climate

variability · Climate change

11.1 Introduction

In the past four decades, dendroclimatology has made valuable contributions to a
greatly improved understanding of climate variability over recent centuries. In the
early 1970s, there was little systematic knowledge of the nature and causes of cli-
mate variability on multiannual to multicentennial timescales, and little more than
speculation existed concerning the course of hemispheric-scale temperatures over