Weather and Climate Extremes: Where Can Dendrochronology Help?

Abstract

When assessing the impacts of human activities on the climate system, it is necessary to have an insight on baseline climates where human encroachment is absent or limited, in order to determine how current and future trends may be out of the range of “natural” climate variability. In this respect, paleoclimate reconstructions have played a leading role in establishing robust estimates of baseline climates, spanning back decades to millennia, according to the proxy used (Bradley et al. 2003; Cook et al. 2002; Crowley and Lowery 2000; Esper et al. 2005; Guiot et al. 2005; Jones et al. 2001; Mann and Jones 2003; Mann et al. 1998; Villalba et al. 2003; Xoplaki et al. 2005).