American Geophysical Union Dendroclimatic Studies: Tree Growth and Climate Change in Northern Forests: 67 (Special Publications)

A top priority in climate research is obtaining broad-extent and long-term data to support analyses of historical patterns and trends, and for model development and evaluation. Along with directly measured climate data from the present and recent past, it is important to obtain estimates of long past climate variations spanning multiple centuries and millennia. Dendroclimatic Studies at the North American Tree Line presents an overview of the current state of dendroclimatology, its contributions over the past few decades, and its future potential. The material included is not useful not only to those who generate tree-ring records of past climate-dendroclimatologists, but also to users of their results-climatologists, hydrologists, ecologists and archeologists.In summary, this book:Sheds light on recent and future climate trends by assessing long term past climatic variations from tree ringsIs a timely coverage of a crucial topic in climate science portraying recent warming trends which are of serious concern todayFeatures well-reputed scientists highlighting new advanced methodologies to reconstruct past climate changeModels the tree growth environmental response Review “I enjoyed the short format, and would support the production of further AGU OPUS themed syntheses, but would respectfully suggest that the programme reviews the format to permit a wider scope for general themes and greater detail for more specialist topics.”  (The Holocene, 1 February 2015) From the Inside Flap Historically, the growth of forests at the far northern latitudinal treeline of North America and Eurasia, as well as those at elevational treeline, has been limited largely by cold temperatures. In recent decades, with northern amplification of temperatures, largely due to anthropogenic warming, some of these forests have responded as expected with increased growth, while others have responded negatively due to drought stress.This volume describes four decades of research by a group of scientists in the field of dendrochronology, or tree-ring analysis, of northern forests and their use in large-scale reconstructions of temperature and indices of atmosphere-ocean circulation. This book takes into account the forests’ cooling response to volcanism and other climatic forcings. These records provide a long-term context for the limited instrumental record of recent decades, and a means for comparison with climate and forest growth modeling that strive to understand the causes and patterns of climatic and environmental change over the past millennium.Volume highlights include: • Long-term analysis of climatic reconstructions from tree rings. • New advanced methodologies on reconstructing past climate • State-of-the-art review of the present state of dendroclimatology and it’s future potential • Modeling tree growth environmental response • Recent warming trends which are of serious concern today • Future forecasts on global climate changeDendroclimatic Studies is a valuable contribution in Earth’s climate change studies, shedding light on recent and future climate trends by assessing long-term past climatic variations from tree-rings. Aside from geoscientists, meteorologists and paleoclimatologists, climate modelers, environmental hydrogeologists, public policy makers, and global insurance industry specialists could greatly benefit from the content of this book. From the Back Cover Historically, the growth of forests at the far northern latitudinal treeline of North America and Eurasia, as well as those at elevational treeline, has been limited largely by cold temperatures. In recent decades, with northern amplification of temperatures, largely due to anthropogenic warming, some of these forests have responded as expected with increased growth, while others have responded negatively due to drought stress.This volume describes four decades of research by a group of scientists in the field of dendr