DENDROHYDROLOGY AND LONG-TERM HYDROLOGIC PHENOMENA

Dendrohydrology provides accurate methods for studying long-term hydro logic variability at regional scales. A substantial literature and bod y of knowledge exists, attesting to the value of tree ring based hydro logic reconstructions to discern patterns of long-term hydrologic vari ability. Application studies encompass drought analysis, analysis of e xtremes, periodicity of rare hydrologic phenomena, regional interdepen dence of surface moisture conditions, and, in general, the probabilist ic analysis of key hydroclimatic variables such as runoff, precipitati on, and temperature. The probabilistic analysis includes distributiona l properties, frequency duration analysis, severity of events, and spa tial variability of hydrologic indicators. This paper reviews some fun damental aspects of dendrohydrology, with a perspective on its value t o hydrologists in pursuit of an understanding of long-term hydrologic spatial-temporal behavior and provides also a selective citation of pr evious work conducted within the dendrohydrologic discipline.