Dendrochronology: A tool to understand the past climate

Conference within the course “analyses en géographie physique”, Prof. Emmanuel Reynard

Dendrochronology: A tool to understand the past climate

Prof. Binod Dawadi, Central Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal

UNIL, AMPHIPOLE, ROOM 315.1 and ZOOM LINK: https://unil.zoom.us/j/2672327347

Climate change is one of the pressing issues of the twenty-first century because small changes in climatic components are affecting largely the different sectors of the environment. The uneven distribution of meteorological stations and paucity of long-term climate data makes difficult to understand the climate change over the Himalayan region. Therefore, tree rings are alternative tools for studying climate change in the Himalayan region. Based on the 292 cores collected from 211 trees of Himalayan birch (Betula utilis), we developed 459 years-long chronology. Tree ring chronology showed a strong negative/positive response to total temperature/precipitation. The strong association between drought and growth of Himalayan birch at timberline provided a rare opportunity to reconstruct variations in pre-monsoon precipitation over the past 400 years. Moreover, periods of below-average growth are in phase with well-known drought events all over monsoon Asia. Moreover, the study also indicated a strong link between March to May precipitation and large tropical volcanic eruption.

Binod Dawadi is an Associate Professor, at the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, and the Deputy Director at Kathmandu Center for Research and Education, Chinese Academy of Sciences – Tribhuvan University. He specializes in climatology and hydrology. He has worked on the impacts of climate change in the Himalayas, the climatology of Nepal, and the risks associated with climate change. He is a visiting professor at the Interdisciplinary Centre for Mountain Research (CIRM) in May 2022.

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