cc: Edward Cook date: Fri, 14 Nov 2008 20:48:52 +0700 from: Edward Cook subject: Re: Euro drought atlas - first thoughts to: Keith Briffa Hi Keith, This all sounds good. Richard has suggested that we have the meeting at CRU instead to make the meeting more Euro-centric. I have no problem with that and always love to come over to visit with you in any case. So think about having the meeting at CRU if you are up for it. Richard and I would of course pay for any travel to bring you over to Lamont in any case. Tom too for that matter. I have thought about the problem of funding you have for Tom. I will do whatever I can to see that he continues working with you through your NERC proposal. I am sure it will be great work. It is too late in the near term, but is there any chance of applying for funding through NERC next year to support our collaboration on drought recons over Europe? Cheers, Ed ================================== Dr. Edward R. Cook Doherty Senior Scholar and Director, Tree-Ring Laboratory Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory Palisades, New York 10964 USA Email: [1]drdendro@ldeo.columbia.edu Phone: 845-365-8618 Fax: 845-365-8152 ================================== On Nov 14, 2008, at 8:27 PM, Keith Briffa wrote: Ed Point one is that I truly believe all tree-ring data will need to be re-standardised (and perhaps pseudo gridded in a systematic , using signal-free method in the standardisation. It is likely preferable to consider working in consistent period bands (but we could discuss this later) .There is also potential to use signal-free RCS in certain situations . There are excellent drought sensitive and long (Pinus nigra ) that Michael Grabner has/is developing that would compliment other stuff such as Rob's in the Alps. There are low-elevation data in and around Switzerland that are drought sensitive conifers that the Swiss group and Italians/French have developed (paper I sent you before) . There is also the wealth of oak data many unpublished ( but of which many in our archive). These will need special attention to objectively re-process, group and grid - especially the sub-fossil data. The work should explore further the validity of the sc versus non-sc PDSI and other precipitation variables. Of course you would be mad and wrong not to invite/involve Jan's group - you want them much more than you need , say Rob. Yes I like Rob more than certain of the Swiss/German group - that is my problem and not any one else and least of all yours. David Frank is a great guy. The other straight up fact is that I basically have no travel support - or funds to support Tom Melvin , the latter after next year. If he was to do much - and frankly he would have to crank through the processing as I am genuinely virtually full time teaching/administration/ etc. these days, he will need salary. This is the reason I am submitting (if I gets it written - no it has to) a UK NERC proposal by the end of next week (on the divergence issue) and I will be putting you down as a suggested referee - NERC often ignore these suggestions - but if you get it you need to grade it top for importance and quality etc . More later on this . Have to rush Keith PS you are always, always welcome here and at our home whenever and for as long as you wish whatever transpires. cheers Keith At 06:50 14/11/2008, you wrote: Hi Keith, I'm sitting in Bangkok thinking about how we must proceed to produce gridded drought recons over Europe, north Africa, and over into Turkey. After his visit with you, Richard indicated that you are keen to get started, although with some reservations about how good the European tree-ring data will be for the task. That we can address when the time comes to do direct calibration/verification against gridded PDSI. Perhaps I am being overly optimistic on how well we will do, but maybe you will be surprised by that too. But first we must find a way to put together the tree-ring network in as complete a fashion as possible. I am confident that we can get Ramzi Touchan and the Cornell group (Sturt Manning and Carol Griggs) involved. That will provide a lot of new data to augment what you can get your hands on along the Mediterranean Rim and elsewhere south of the Alps. I think I might be able to get some Turkey tree-ring scientists involved too (e.g. Nesibe Kose). Sasha Gershunov from Scripps also indicates to me that he has some contacts in Georgia that may enable us to get some tree-ring data from there too. North of the Alps is where we are totally dependent on what you and others can provide in the way of tree-ring data. What I want to do is hold a meeting at Lamont with determine how best to develop the tree-ring network. My usual travel plans make it impossible for me to do so before late-April or May 2009. Maybe that is just as well to give us time to get organized. Those who would be invited would be those with tree-ring data to contribute to the effort and be part of the overall effort at various levels. Besides you, who do you suggest from Europe? Rob Wilson? He would be fine with me. I would also like to invite someone from WSL too because Esper and his group have been very active in getting/developing tree-ring data sets. I know you have issues with Esper, so you will have to be totally honest about whether or not you would like him to be invited. Dave Frank is a good alternate in my opinion. I am not sure we can easily avoid inviting one or the other. Any other names you can suggest? We don't want it to be a big meeting. Mainly just one for organizing how to compile the tree-ring data sets we need for the network. Of course, another topic will be how to standardize the tree-ring data and who will do it. I would of course be pleased for you and Tom to take on that challenge, with me involved as much as I am able to or am needed. I would be happy to come over to CRU to work with you guys on that effort. So please let me know your thoughts on this email. It is only to you at this stage so that we can have frank discussions on how to proceed along the lines I have described here. Cheers, Ed ================================== Dr. Edward R. Cook Doherty Senior Scholar and Director, Tree-Ring Laboratory Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory Palisades, New York 10964 USA Email: [2]drdendro@ldeo.columbia.edu Phone: 845-365-8618 Fax: 845-365-8152 ================================== -- Professor Keith Briffa, Climatic Research Unit University of East Anglia Norwich, NR4 7TJ, U.K. Phone: +44-1603-593909 Fax: +44-1603-507784 [3]http://www.cru.uea.ac.uk/cru/people/briffa/