Scientists are hoping stalagmites and tree rings will help them unlock secrets about Ethiopia's past and current climates. A team of Britons and Ethiopians will begin work this month, gathering samples from limestone caves and areas of indigenous forest along the Blue Nile river. In time, they hope to build up a profile showing how the country's climate has changed over time. This information will help government scientists predict droughts and other climatic variations.
The width of tree rings and stalagmite layers vary according to the weather conditions at the time of growth. Over time, stores of detailed information build up, providing scientists with continuous records of weather and highlighting unusually wet or dry periods. Techniques such as stalagmite luminescence are well practiced in northern Europe and have contributed to climatic profiles and predictions that every government has access to. Not so in Ethiopia, a drought-prone country where written climatic records began barely 100 years ago.
The team, comprising a former Royal Marines Officer and publisher, a climatologist, a scientist and two undergraduates, intends to calibrate records from tree rings and stalagmites with human records and produce a climate prediction map. "We think the project will yield some fantastic knowledge, especially in the context of how devastating drought can be," said organiser James Bryce. Preliminary results should be available by the end of the year.