New Zealand Kauri Trees

At www.physorg.com/print189177985.html New Zealand’s Kauri trees can measure 4m wide at the trunk and live for up to 2000 years. Exeter University and Oxford University are taking part in the creation of what is hoped to be a 30,000 year old climate record on New Zealand – from Kauri trees preserved in bogs and wetland environments. Tree rings are also useful in extracting information about levels of atmospheric carbon. Some of the trees are thought to date back to the last interglacial phase – 130,000 years ago. However, it is the Late Pleistocene era they are particularly interested in – the Oldest, Older and Younger Dryas events for example, which involved sharp swings in climate. They will be looking for clues to explain these events and apply them to AGW.