Justin Maxwell, along with collaborators Grant Harley (University of Idaho) and Shelly Rayback (University of Vermont) were awarded a three-year $360,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to reconstruct temperature variability over the last 400-500 years using tree rings in Eastern North America. The research team will be using a relatively new method called blue-light intensity that can measure the density of the wood cells within an annual growth ring. The latter portion of the growth ring, called latewood, forms at the end of the growing season. Changes in the maximum density of the latewood is sensitive to interannual changes in temperature for temperature-sensitive tree species from Eastern North America, like the red spruce. These reconstructions will help put into historical context the dramatic increases in surface temperature experienced in Eastern North America over the last several decades.
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