Tree-Ring Talk

Ashes to Ashes is a series of drawings depicting recent Arizona wildfires, rendered with charcoal samples personally collected from each fire site. Each drawing is displayed with its corresponding charcoal sample. The collection represents fourteen significant wildfires from 1990 to the present, with archived photographs used as references.

In light of current and projected increases in global temperatures and atmospheric CO2 concentrations throughout the 21st century, it is crucial to understand the long-term effects of environmental changes and climatic variability on the terrestrial carbon cycle. To complement traditional methods of quantifying carbon cycle dynamics such as forest inventories, eddy-covariance measurements and remote sensing, we established a biomass-oriented tree-ring network along a large climate gradient across Europe.

Our strongly replicated collections of dendrochronologically dated tree-ring material of bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva) from multiple locations in the high mountains of the Great Basin and nearby regions constitute a unique environmental archive. Their tree-ring widths have yielded multi-millennial histories of moisture availability, tree growth, temperature and tree-line elevation as well as of the chronology and influence of climatically effective, explosive volcanic eruptions.