The Assessment of Present, Past and Future Climate Variability in the Americas from Treeline Environments

Abstract

Since we received funds in June 1999 IAI CRN03 has vigorously pursued a diverse range of scientific and educational activities that have been described in 4 previous reports (September, 2000; October, 2001; November, 2002; September 2003) and other material prepared for IAI (e.g. Luckman and Boninsegna 20041). It is impossible to cover these activities in detail. This report documents activities since the last Annual Report (September 2003) and summarizes achievements of the project. As previously, it will be organized in multiple sections. It begins with an overview presenting highlights of activity during the final year of the project (which was officially extended until May 31st, 2005) and also selected summary data for the entire project. This is followed by a series of reports from individual CoPIs that mainly focus on activities during the interval from ca. June 2003 to the present (ca. March-June 2005). The developmental structure of the CRN is shown diagrammatically in Figure 1. The planning of the final phase of CRN activities was purposely flexible to avoid clashing with the timetable of the anticipated call for proposals for a second CRN competition. Discussions about potential proposal themes took place at the tree-ring meeting in Tucson in April 2004 when most of the CoPIs were present. Eventually, following the call for proposals, the group developed the pre-proposal “Documenting, understanding and projecting changes in the hydrological cycle in the American Cordillera” which was submitted in October 2004. On November 24th we were invited to submit a full proposal by late February, 2005 (subsequently changed to March 23rd). The timing of the fieldweek, final science meeting and other CRN activities were arranged around this schedule.