Ice Age Tree Rings

A team of researchers are hoping to find 30,000 years of climate records in the rings of preserved kauri trees in the peat bogs of New Zealand. Led by Exeter University, the scientists have been awarded a grant to do carbon dating and analysis of the trees, which can provide a very precise picture of the atmospheric carbon in past time periods — and can yield clues about extreme climate changes. They are hoping that the study can fill in some of our historical weather records which only go back as far as the mid-19th century.