Tree-Ring Based Reconstruction of the North American Monsoon

Resource managers and planners across the West are recognizing that multi-century tree-ring reconstructions of climate and hydrology can provide important information about past hydroclimatic variability. The reconstructions depict a broader range of climate conditions, including severe drought events, than do instrumental climate and flow records. Accordingly, they may be a more realistic representation of future water availability than the instrumental records.

In 2007 and 2008, numerous researchers and resource managers attended workshops that were convened in Albuquerque on tree-ring reconstructions of Rio Grande streamflow for drought planning and water management in the Rio Grande basin. At the time, several participants expressed interest in a reconstruction of monsoon precipitation for the Rio Grande region. We are currently wrapping up a 4-year project to develop tree-ring data and reconstructions of the North American monsoon, including one tailored for the Rio Grande basin.

This is a follow-up workshop on the new monsoon reconstruction. As before, the workshop will include overview information and plenty of time for discussion. We are especially interested in knowing how this information might be made useful to you. The workshop will cover the following:

• How tree rings are sampled and analyzed to get information about monsoon precipitation 
• The new network of tree-ring data developed explicitly to reconstruct the North American monsoon 
• How monsoon precipitation reconstructions are generated from these data 
• What the monsoon reconstructions tell us 
• How the Rio Grande basin monsoon reconstruction compares with the reconstruction of upper Rio Grande flow over the past 350 years 

The workshop will be held in Albuquerque, on Monday, May 14, 2012 from 9:30-12:30. It will be at the NMSU Albuquerque Center, 4501 Indian School Road NE, Suite 100, Albuquerque, NM 87110-4387 (note: this is a different location than where the 2007 and 2008 workshops were held). We will be in Classroom 203.

There is no cost to attend this invitation only workshop.