Blue Intensity In Pinus Sylvestris Tree Rings: A Manual For A New Palaeoclimate Proxy

• Main Authors: Campbell, Rochelle, McCarroll, Danny, Robertson, Iain, Loader, Neil J., Grudd, Håkan, Gunnarson, Björn
• Other Authors: Department of Geography, College of Science, Swansea University, Bert Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Department of Physical Geography and Quaternary Geology, Stockholm University, Department of Forest Ecology and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå , Sweden
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Tree-Ring Society 2011
• Subjects: Dendrochronology; Tree Rings; Scots Pine; X-ray Density; Resin Extraction; Fennoscandia
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10150/622639

Minimum blue intensity is a reflected light imaging technique that provides an inexpensive, robust and reliable surrogate for maximum latewood density. In this application it was found that temperature reconstructions from resin-extracted samples of Pinus sylvestris (L.) from Fennoscandia provide results equivalent to conventional x-ray densitometry. This paper describes the implementation of the blue intensity method using commercially available software and a flat-bed scanner. A calibration procedure is presented that permits results obtained by different laboratories, or using different scanners, to be compared. In addition, the use of carefully prepared and chemically treated 10-mm-diameter cores are explored; suggesting that it may not be necessary to produce thin laths with the rings aligned exactly perpendicular to the measurement surface. This item is part of the Tree-Ring Research (formerly Tree-Ring Bulletin) archive. For more information about this peer-reviewed scholarly journal, please email the Editor of Tree-Ring Research at [e-mail].