Methods
Climate Analysis and Reconstruction
The reconstruction, or more properly retrodiction, of climate variables from tree-ring data is an intensive process that requires accurate dating of individual rings, precise measurement of each ring on each dated sample [figure 11], acquisition and evaluation of modern and historical climate data, statistical correlation of instrumental climate data and modern tree-ring growth, and application of the results to tree-rings prior to the period of historical records (Fritts 1976, 1991; Salzer 2000b). Tree-growth, however, is a function of many interacting factors (Fritts 1991).
Figure 11. Measuring individual tree rings.