STATISTICAL-MODELS OF DENDROCHRONOLOGY

A generally accepted model of the variation of tree-ring widths assumes that a filtered sequence of indices may be decomposed into signal and noise components, where the signal represents the general climatic factors that govern the growth of oaks within a region and the noise is due to other non-climatic factors. This is a very simplistic model and in this paper a more realistic model is developed. The implications for practical tree-ring dating are described and in particular the question of the development and use of national or regional chronologies is addressed. © 1991.