Tree-ring network and climate in the mediterranean region

Abstract

Drought is a focal point in the assessment of hydroclimatic variability in the Mediterranean Basin. 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 are extremely limited. Knowledge of drought variability on time scales of decades to centuries is needed to understand and prepare for dry and wet conditions in the region. Drought-sensitive tree-ring records are a valuable resource for extending knowledge of hydroclimatic variability both in space and time. Here we will discuss the first large scale systematic tree-ring sampling in NA and EM. One-hundred-fifty chronologies have been developed or are being developed. We conducted a site-by-site correlation analysis of each residual ring-width chronology from the EM against local gridded climate data to identify the appropriate hydroclimatic season for developing point-to- point precipitation and drought field reconstruction. The warm season May-July emerges as broadly important to tree-ring chronologies in the EM.