Tree-Ring Network and Climate in the Mediterranean Region

Drought is a focal point in the assessment of hydroclimatic variability in the MediterraneanBasin. Droughts can have drastic social and economic impacts, particularly in North Africa (NA)and Eastern Mediterranean (EM) where population is increasing rapidly and water supplies areextremely limited. Knowledge of drought variability on time scales of decades to centuries isneeded to understand and prepare for dry and wet conditions in the region. Drought-sensitivetree-ring records are a valuable resource for extending knowledge of hydroclimatic variabilityboth in space and time. Here we will discuss the first large scale systematic tree-ring sampling inNA and EM. One-hundred-fifty chronologies have been developed or are being developed. Weconducted a site-by-site correlation analysis of each residual ring-width chronology from the EMagainst local gridded climate data to identify the appropriate hydroclimatic season for developingpoint-to- point precipitation and drought field reconstruction. The warm season May-Julyemerges as broadly important to tree-ring chronologies in the EM.