Why do tree rings look different according to weather?

Question

I just can't find answers! I've searched for such a long time you could have time to build a 2-story house!(Sorry, exaggeration.) Also, if you know, can you tell me how to keep global warming getting worse.

Answer 1

Tree rings are fairly accurate records of weather in past years. Each year the tree makes a new layer of wood (xylem). The light part of the ring is the spring wood that is made when growing conditions are good in the spring and summer. The dark part of the ring is the part that is made toward the end of the summer and in the fall when the weather is more likely to be dry and the leaves are getting all chewed up by insects and the days begin to get shorter.

When the rings are wider, that means that the growing season was good -- especially that the tree had plenty of rainfall. When the rings are narrower, that means the growing season wasn't as good -- usually not enough rainfall.
Scientists can count back to see how the rainfall was in a particular year.

Second question: keep global warming from getting worse. The main things we can do are:
1. Reducing the amount of carbon dioxide we put into the air from fossil fuels. Carbon dioxide from our breathing is not changing the total carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The problem is when we use coal, petroleum, and natural gas. The carbon in these sources was taken out of the atmosphere millions of years ago and was locked away underground for all this time. Taking these fuels out of the ground and burning them puts excess carbon dioxide into the air that has been put away for a long, long time. This DOES change the total carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

So we need to use less energy and buy less stuff.

2. The other part of the equation has to do with deforestation. Trees take carbon dioxide out of the air. If we burn fossil fuels and at the same time reduce the forests, we are putting more carbon dioxide into the air at the same time as we are limiting the forest's ability to take carbon dioxide out of the air. That's not going to work. So it's our job to try to protect forests around the world and to plant more trees on our own property.

Answer 2

New research by two University of Tennessee professors could help us better understand hurricanes by looking to an unusual source: tree rings.

By analyzing the rings of trees in areas that are hit by hurricanes, UT professors Claudia Mora and Henri Grissino-Mayer have found that the oxygen isotope content in a ring will vary if the tree was hit by a hurricane during that year.

Their research is being published in this week's early online version of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, one of the world's most cited multidisciplinary scientific journals.

There has been a significant increase in the number of hurricanes hitting the Southeast since the mid-1990s, and scientists have sought to determine the cause for the upswing. Some question exists about whether the increase is part of a regularly occurring cycle of activity, or whether it is being brought about by a cause such as global climate change.

The problem facing this analysis is that the current documented history of hurricane activity in the Southeast dates back only about 100 years -- not enough time to establish a cycle that might last many decades at a time.

Answer 3

The width of each tree ring- is determined by how much that tree grew in any given year. Seasons with plenty of rain- tend to make wider rings. Drought years tend to make very thin ones. A slice from an old tree- is like a weather record of all the growing seasons that that tree lived through. If you're REALLY serious about aiding in the war against Global Warming, give up your car (or use it as LITTLE as possible), RECYCLE everything you can THINK of; and CONSERVE- all the water, electricity, and petroleum based products- you can (And remember THIS; we got INTO this mess with Global Warming- one person at a time... And that's the ONLY way we're gonna get ourselves OUT). Good luck!

Answer 4

Tree rings vary in size because of the moisture variations in the years. When there is more rain, the rings are thicker than during dry years.

You can keep global warming from getting worse... just don't buy any ocean front property and you should be OK

Answer 5

Tree rings are a measure of a tree's growth. Each ring is a layer of cells that was formed in that particular year. In good seasons, the tree has favorable conditions and thus produces more cells. More cells mean a larger ring. In poor seasons, the tree produces less cells and, therefore, creates smaller rings.

Answer 6

the bark was exposed to different conditions at each point in its life, so if there was a fire 10 years ago, count ten rings into the trunk and it should be singed.

To prevent global warming we need to get rid of humans, b/c i think its too late, global warming is here

Answer 7

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