The global tree-ring community is racking up the papers investigating the utility of the relatively new proxy using blue intensity of annually-dated tree rings. This latest effort is a blue intensity investigation followup of a recent study on ring widths also led by Dr. Santosh Shah of Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences in Locknow, India. Blue intensity is a proxy that has added a new dimension to thermal histories across the globe including efforts at the The College of Wooster Tree Ring Lab. Shah et al. (2025) used cores extracted from three sites of the Western Himalayan Fir (Abies pindrow) from the Kashmir Valley.

Map from the study showing the location of the three tree-ring sites and the meteorological station (Srinager). The centrally-located Srinager climate station has records of precipitation and temperature spanning 1901-2024, one of the longest in the region.

The upshot of the work is that time series of blue intensity values from the latewood of A.Pindrow are strongly correlated with monthly average and maximum temperature series  from nearby climate station (Srinager).  Ring-width are more strongly correlated with summer precipitation and thus blue intensity with its response to late summer temperatures promises to provide a new proxy for thermal histories for the region. These collaborations with Dr. Shah and colleagues have enriched our efforts at the Wooster Tree Ring Lab and we look forward to future efforts.

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