Doctoral Dissertation Research: Temperature reconstructions for the United States Intermountain West

Regents Of The University Of Idaho, Moscow ID

Investigators

Abstract

This study will reconstruct summer air temperatures over the past 1000 years using tree-ring data in an area where these data do not currently exit. Using a novel “blue-light” proxy for tree-ring analysis, this project will provide solid contributions to the field of dendrochronology. Understanding the broader temporal and spatial patterns, timing, and amplitude of current and past cool and warm periods provides a framework to better understand future environmental disruptions in the study region. These data and the environmental reconstructions produced by this research will be hosted at the International Tree-Ring Data Bank and NOAA World Data Center for Paleoclimatology so that they are readily accessible to the public, as well as other researchers. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this project will provide support to enable a graduate student to establish an independent research career. Current and future changes in temperatures may have negative impacts on natural and human systems and high-resolution temperature reconstructions are needed to understand current and longer-term environmental change. The spatial variability of historic temperature trends is not fully understood, and this lack of knowledge limits model forecasts. This research will improve understandings of the historic spatial and temporal variability of summer temperatures across the western United States. It uses novel methods applied to tree rings to develop temperature records that provide information on (1) past and current spatiotemporal characteristics of temperature variability, (2) the full range and amplitude of historic temperatures, and (3) the timing and direction of temperature rate changes. Results from this work will contribute to increasing the global density of robust, longer-term, annually-resolved environmental records and increase the understanding of regional variability of past and present environmental trends. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.