BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 METHOD:PUBLISH PRODID:-//Telerik Inc.//Sitefinity CMS 15.1//EN BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Eastern Standard Time BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20251102T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYDAY=1SU;BYHOUR=2;BYMINUTE=0;BYMONTH=11 TZNAME:Eastern Standard Time TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20250301T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYDAY=2SU;BYHOUR=2;BYMINUTE=0;BYMONTH=3 TZNAME:Eastern Daylight Time TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DESCRIPTION:No Analogue: What Can Tree Rings Tell Us in a Changed Climate?A my Hessl\, \;Department of Geology &\; Geography\, \;West Virgi nia University.Abstract: In the early 1900s\, a creative astronomer named A. E. Douglass turned to \;tree rings to reconstruct sunspot \; cy cles. Through careful observation\, he developed a \;method we call cr oss-dating to date tree rings to the calendar year\, even for long dead&nb sp\;trees. While Douglass failed to create a reliable history of sunspots\ , he recognized the \;potential to use tree rings to build long histor ies of past environments\, date archeological \;sites and\, with Willa rd Libby\, calibrate the radiocarbon scale. Over the 20th century\, \; the field of dendrochronology contributed to major discoveries in a range of disciplines \;from archeology to climatology. By the turn of the 21 st century\, climate change became \;the overwhelming focus of paleoen vironmental studies and tree rings played a central \;role in confirmi ng the reality of our changed climate. Ironically\, with this discovery\,& nbsp\;dendrochronology also confirmed that the past is rapidly becoming no analogue for \;the future. With the climate debate settled\, and the past seemingly not as relevant to \;understanding future climate\, stu dies of past environments via tree rings and other \;environmental arc hives seemed destined for the dustbin of history. In this talk\, I challen ge \;this view and argue that long tree ring records are a rare and pr ecious paleoenvironmental \;archive that continue to yield new discove ries about the history of our planet\, society\, and \;the sun. Enviro nmental archives continue to astound and need young passionate scientists& nbsp\;to discover\, safeguard\, and mine them for the yet unknown historie s they contain. DTEND:20230427T223000Z DTSTAMP:20260512T101518Z DTSTART:20230427T210000Z LOCATION: SEQUENCE:0 SUMMARY:Geography and the Environment- Donald Meinig Undergraduate Lecture UID:RFCALITEM639141633181893310 X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:

No Analogue: What Can Tree Rings Tell Us i n a Changed Climate?

Amy Hessl\, \;Department of Geology &\; Geography\, \; West Virginia Uni versity.

Abstract: In the early 1900s\, a creative astr onomer named A. E. Douglass turned to \;tree rings to reconstruct sunspot \; cycles. Throu gh careful observation\, he developed a \;method we call cross-dating to date tree ring s to the calendar year\, even for long dead \;trees. While Douglass failed to create a reliable history of sunspots\, he recognized the \;potential to use tree rings to build long histories of past environments\, date archeological \;sites and\, with Willard Li bby\, calibrate the radiocarbon scale.

Over the 20th century\, \;the field of dendrochronology co ntributed to major discoveries in a range of disciplines \;from archeology to climatolo gy. By the turn of the 21st century\, climate change became \;< span style="background-color: initial\; font-family: inherit\; font-size: inherit\; text-align: inherit\; text-transform: inherit\; white-space: inh erit\; word-spacing: normal\; caret-color: auto">the overwhelming focus of paleoenvironmental studies and tree rings played a central \;< span style="background-color: initial\; font-family: inherit\; font-size: inherit\; text-align: inherit\; text-transform: inherit\; white-space: inh erit\; word-spacing: normal\; caret-color: auto">role in confirming the re ality of our changed climate. Ironically\, with this discovery\, \;dendrochronology als o confirmed that the past is rapidly becoming no analogue for \;the future. With the cl imate debate settled\, and the past seemingly not as relevant to \;understanding future climate\, studies of past environments via tree rings and other \;environmental archiv es seemed destined for the dustbin of history.

In this talk\, I challenge \;this view and argue t hat long tree ring records are a rare and precious paleoenvironmental  \;archive that co ntinue to yield new discoveries about the history of our planet\, society\ , and \;the s un. Environmental archives continue to astound and need young passionate s cientists \;t o discover\, safeguard\, and mine them for the yet unknown histories they contain.

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