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Research article2011Peer reviewedOpen access

Blue intensity in Pinus Sylvestris tree rings: A manual for a new palaeoclimate proxy

Campbell, Rochelle; McCarroll, Danny; Robertson, Iain; Loader, Neil J.; Grudd, Håkan; Gunnarson, Björn

Abstract

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 Pious 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.

Keywords

Dendrochronology; Scots pine; x-ray density; resin extraction; Fennoscandia

Published in

Tree-Ring Research
2011, Volume: 67, number: 2, pages: 127-134
Publisher: TREE-RING SOC

    UKÄ Subject classification

    Environmental Sciences related to Agriculture and Land-use

    Publication identifier

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.3959/2010-13.1

    Permanent link to this page (URI)

    https://res.slu.se/id/publ/46514