Dendroclimatology

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The discipline that analyzes tree-ring patterns in order to deduce historical climate changes incorporates variability in growth rings to gain insights into past environmental conditions
2. The scientific field that interprets climate variations by examining growth patterns in tree rings
3. A branch of research focused on reconstructing historical weather conditions through analysis of annual tree ring data

Etymology: "Dendroclimatology" is a compound built from two Greek-derived parts. The first, "dendro-", comes from ancient Greek "déndron", meaning "tree", a word that traces back to the Proto-Indo-European root for oak or tree, which is also the source of the English word "tree" in its distant ancestry. The second part, "climatology", is the study of climate, itself formed from the Greek "klima", meaning "slope" or "inclination", a reference to the angle of the sun's rays hitting different parts of the earth's surface. Put together, the term describes a science that reads climate history from trees. Each year a tree adds a ring of wood, and the width and density of those rings respond to rainfall, temperature and other conditions, so a trunk becomes a dated record of past weather. The word is a modern scientific coinage assembled from classical roots, so the ancient Greeks would not have recognized it, even though its parts are theirs.