Dendrochronology in Jordan

Dendrochronology is a valuable tool for the study of past climate and incre ases our knowledge of climate variability beyond the short period covered b y instrumental data. Two annual tree-ring width chronologies were developed for northern Jordan (Pinus halepensis and Quercus aegilops), one chronolog y for Carmel Mountain, Israel (Pinus halepensis), and one chronology for so uthern Jordan (funiperus phoenicia). The results of our study show that the northern site chronologies are significantly correlated, but the northern and southern sites are not. A relatively high correlation was shown between October-April precipitation and a Pinus halepensis chronology, and between October-May precipitation and Quercus aegilops, both in the north. October -May precipitation was reconstructed for the time span AD 1600 to 1995 from the Juniperus phoenicia tree-ring chronology. The longest reconstructed dr ought, defined as consecutive years below a threshold of 80% of the 1946-19 95 mean observed October-May precipitation, was 4 years, compared with 3 ye ars for the 1946-95 instrumental data. (C) 1999 Academic Press.