RECONSTRUCTION OF THE PAST CLIMATE FROM TREE RINGS OVER WESTERN HIMALAYA, INDIA

Climate variability over the Himalayan region has been attracting the attention of palaeoclimatologists on a wide range of time scales. In the context of slow changes in the contemporary time frame, it is of great relevance to understand the nature of decadal to century scale variations of the climate. In view of the sparse network of instrumental records, out of which only a handful extend to about 100 years, we have to depend on natural archives such as tree rings to reconstruct the past climatic variations over the region. Fortunately, large parts of the Himalayas are covered by extensive conifer forests, which have great potential for high\|resolution (interannual) dendroclimatic reconstructions, at least over the past 5 to 6 centuries. These conifers include genera such as Abies, Picea, Cedrus, Pinus etc., which have displayed great age, distinct annual growth rings and high sensitivity to atmospheric environment. Properly cross\|matched variations in the tree\|ring characteristics like width, density etc. can be used to reconstruct major climatic events during the last few centuries.