date: Tue, 27 Jan 2009 17:10:49 -0500 from: "reviews@crdf.org" subject: Review Request: CRDF Proposal 16485 to: "Briffa, Keith" Title: Influence of changes in temperature and moisture on structure and composition of annual rings in Siberian trees Proposal # 16485 Jan 27, 2009 Dear Dr. Briffa: At the suggestion of Dr. Eugene Wahl, I am writing to ask for your assistance in evaluating the above proposal, which has been submitted to U.S. Civilian Research & Development Foundation (CRDF) for the CRDF and Russian Foundation for Basic Research 2008 CGP-RFBR Multidisciplinary Climate Change Competition. The abstract of this proposal is included at the bottom of this message. CRDF is a nonprofit organization authorized by the U.S. Congress and established in 1995 by the National Science Foundation. This unique public-private partnership promotes international scientific and technical collaboration, primarily between the United States and Eurasia, through grants, technical resources, and training. For further information on CRDF, please visit our website at www.crdf.org. Reviewing the proposal would involve reading a project narrative of no more than 8 pages, and reviewing application materials that consist of CVs of participants and a budget. Reviewers will submit an online evaluation, based on six review criteria. In order to be mindful of your time, we will send the proposal to you electronically and provide you with the link to a reviewer website, through which you must submit your review. We realize that you have many demands on your time, but we hope you can assist CRDF and the Eurasian science community by evaluating this proposal. We would expect all reviews to be returned by February 11, 2009. - If you are willing to review the proposal, please reply to this message and indicate the following in your email: 1. Citizenship: Please indicate whether you are a U.S. citizen or have a U.S. Green Card; this is to ensure that CRDF complies with U.S. export control requirements. 2. Confidentiality: That you are aware that these proposals are under review and will keep them in the strictest confidentiality. - If you are NOT ABLE TO REVIEW the proposal, we would appreciate if you would recommend a colleague with appropriate expertise in the field of the proposal. Please send such recommendations to us by return e-mail. Thank you in advance for your time. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at reviews@crdf.org. Sincerely, Julie Wilson Program Manager U.S. Civilian Research & Development Foundation Tel. 703 526-9720 Fax. 703 526-9721 http://www.crdf.org ______________________________________________________________________________ The purpose of this proposal is to bring together resources and knowledge of several groups in Russia and the United States to improve understanding of the controls on tree-ring multi-elemental and stable carbon isotope d13C composition with the ultimate goal of improving records of past climates in Siberia based on tree rings. Our team has expertise in performing high-quality analytical measurements, data analysis, and modeling of tree-ring processes. There is a strong record of international publications produced as a result of previous collaboration between scientists at the Institute of Forest (Russia) and colleagues at University of Arizona. The best available analytical equipment is now accessible within Russia, however expertise of international experts is needed to help young scientists master the required methods. Siberian Federal University will be at the core of this project, encouraging Master’s and Ph.D. students to participate. We propose to investigate control s of variability in multi-elemental composition and stable carbon isotopes in tree rings at two sites in Siberia characterized by distinct climates (temperature-limited Khatanga in Northern Siberia, 72°N, 102°E and moisture-limited Minusinsk in Southern Siberia, 53°N, 92°E). The purpose is to facilitate new advances in the field of dendroclimatology in two directions: first, by exploring new climate proxies based on multi-elemental analyses, and second by attempting to better constrain moisture and temperature controls on stable carbon isotopes and on biologically important elements (K, Ca, etc.) for each season. The geographical region of this study, Siberia, is important climatically but is still relatively poorly studied in terms of past climates compared to United States and Europe. We plan to collect samples in the time interval of the past ~100 years, during part of which local instrumental climate records are available. It is hoped that results of this proposed projec t will yield new approaches of accessing information on past climate changes and will help efforts to precisely characterize past climate changes over Siberia.