date: Fri Apr 5 10:34:06 2002 from: Keith Briffa subject: Re: grid square maximum temperature data to: "Rob Wilson" Rob This is just to say paper accepted and forwarded to John. As for the request to Phil , I do not believe we have the data in the form you want Phil will no doubt respond but I just wanted to let you know that the best thing to do in the meantime is look at Mark New's data set , available from the web site . These have Diurnal Temperature range and mean and you may be able to extract the maximums.I am following up your suggestion of the maximum temperature effect by looking at mean / max differences in areas we have data to correspond with our gridded density data (specifically areas of Canada and Russia) . We have an EC project just starting (ALPIMP) that will collect and aggregate Alpine data. Best wishes Keith At 09:57 PM 4/4/02 -0500, you wrote: Dear Phil, John Topham and I have recently extended living spruce ring-width data for the Bavarian Forest and Austrian Alps back to the late 13th century using TR series measured from violins and other string instruments. We are writing a short paper to assess the potential of using these data for climate reconstruction purposes. When I compare the ring-width data to mean June/July temperatures, there is a reasonable relationship between the series. However, after 1950, there is a divergence between the RW and temperature data. This, of course, might be the same phenomenon that Keith has written about. I have also noted such a divergence with my work in Canada. I got around the problem by developing reconstructions of maximum rather than mean temperatures . The hypothesis being that trees respond more to daytime temperatures rather than night-time temperatures. Therefore trends in minimum nightime temperatures, if different from daytime maximum temperatures, may bias the trends in the mean function. My ideas appear to work well in my Canadian work. However, it would be nice to validate my hypothesis in a completely different region. I hope to try this in the Alpine region. Presently I only have access to mean temperature data in the Alpine region - i.e. your gridded anomaly data. I was wondering if you could send me any maximum (and minimum?) temperature data for the relevant region of the European Alps. The attached pdf file shows the 5x5 degree grid square I am currently using. Its lats and longs are 45-50N 10-15E. The black circles show the two locations where the living TR data come from. I have taken the liberty to also cc this message to Keith as he may be interested in what I am doing. best regards Rob ------------------------------------------ Rob Wilson. Tree-Ring Lab, Department of Geography University of Western Ontario London, Ontario, Canada, N6G 3A9 Tel: 519 645 87 57 Home Page: [1]http://publish.uwo.ca/~rjwilson/ Curriculum Vitae: [2]http://publish.uwo.ca/~rjwilson/CV/CV.html ".....I have wondered about trees. They are sensitive to light, to moisture, to wind, to pressure. Sensitivity implies sensation. Might a man feel into the soul of a tree for these sensations? If a tree were capable of awareness, this faculty might prove useful. " "The Miracle Workers" by Jack Vance -- Professor Keith Briffa, Climatic Research Unit University of East Anglia Norwich, NR4 7TJ, U.K. Phone: +44-1603-593909 Fax: +44-1603-507784 [3]http://www.cru.uea.ac.uk/cru/people/briffa[4]/