Abstract
We describe the implementation of the Vaganov–Shashkin tree-ring growth model (VSM) in MATLAB. VSM, originally written in Fortran, mimics subdaily and daily resolution processes of cambial growth as a function of soil moisture, air temperature, and insolation, with environmental forcing modeled as the principle of limiting factors. The re-implementation in a high level interpreted language, while sacrificing speed, provides opportunities to systematically evaluate model parameters, generate large ensembles of simulated tree-ring chronologies, and embed proxy system modeling within data assimilation approaches to climate reconstruction. We provide a versioned code repository and examples of model applications which permit process-level understanding of tree ring width variations in response to environmental variations and boundary conditions.
Highlights
Interpretations of climate influences on tree rings and the application of these relationships to the reconstruction of past climate typically use empirical statistical models calibrated from the overlapping periods of observed climate data and the tree-ring proxy measurements (Fritts et al., 1971; Hughes, 2011)
The model has been applied to simulating a hemisphere-scale network of tree-ring chronologies (Evans et al, 2006), used to detect and diagnose changes in tree-ring climate growth relationships (Vaganov et al, 1999; Anchukaitis et al, 2006), and employed in studying the origin of multivariate statistical climate associations in a temperate mesic environment (Shi et al, 2008; Vaganov et al, 2011)
We evaluated the correlation between the ensemble of simulations and the actual Mohonk hemlock tree-ring chronology (Cook and Jacoby, 1977) during their period of overlap, 1925 to 1973
Summary
Interpretations of climate influences on tree rings and the application of these relationships to the reconstruction of past climate typically use empirical statistical models calibrated from the overlapping periods of observed climate data and the tree-ring proxy measurements (Fritts et al., 1971; Hughes, 2011). The model has been applied to simulating a hemisphere-scale network of tree-ring chronologies (Evans et al, 2006), used to detect and diagnose changes in tree-ring climate growth relationships (Vaganov et al, 1999; Anchukaitis et al, 2006), and employed in studying the origin of multivariate statistical climate associations in a temperate mesic environment (Shi et al, 2008; Vaganov et al, 2011) These prior applications of the model have used computer code written in the FORTRAN language (Evans et al, 2006). The model code is freely available to use and can be adopted for additional development, platform-migration, and integration in related applications
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