Past and Present Variability in Monsoon Climate over the Himalayas Reconstructed from Tree-Rings

Columbia University, New York NY

Investigators

Abstract

This award will create a publicly accessible database of tree ring-based chronologies from the Himalayas and the Indian subcontinent regions that will help reconstruct climate over the past few centuries. It will also fund expeditions to India and Bhutan to further expand the tree-ring network and provide support to statistically analyze new tree ring data from these field expeditions. Such data from this climatically sensitive region is critical for understanding global climate variability on annual to century timescales. In the process of building a database of unique climate information, the research effort will also build collaborations with international colleagues working in this previously inaccessible region through cooperative research and the organization of an international workshop to share scientific data and ideas.