Video

Silent Storytellers: Reading the Rings

Crown of the Continent Research Learning Center

Descriptive Transcript

A middle-aged woman in a t-shirt and shorts walks up to a brown garage with a green door and lifts it. A sign above the door says “Global Change” and inside the garage are many stacks of tree cross-sections varying in height.

A woman holding a tree cross-section with pencil-marked dates on it points to the concentric rings. White text overlays the video reading: USGS researchers at the Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center are creating a digital public library of tree cross-sections.

A man’s hand points to a topographic map showing brown mountain ranges and green valleys. White text overlays the video reading: Samples were collected from fallen trees in avalanche paths across the west, including Glacier National Park.

A closer view of the stacks of tree cross-sections inside the garage. The woman who opened the garage sorts through them. White text overlays the video reading: Cataloging snapshots into Earth’s past for applications in its future.

[Lisa] This represents about 12 hundred samples, which is, mm, roughly half of all the samples we’re going to be scanning.

A close-up of another tree ring with marks that date it back to 1879. Video cuts to a man wearing a blue button up and shorts sitting in an office.

[Erich] Trees can tell us a lot of things. By looking at each individual tree ring we can see when avalanches hit that tree.

[Erich] Understanding when these big avalanches occur and what drives them, is uh, you know can help us understand them not only in the current time, but what might happen in the future in terms of a changing climate.

In her office, Lisa levels and photographs a tree cross-section using a camera mounted above the sample. The camera flashes as she takes pictures of different sections.

[Lisa] When I'm scanning each of these trees, I realize they all have a different story to tell.

[Lisa] First thing I do is try to get the sample surface as level as possible. I’m taking multiple high-resolution photos that’ll all be merged together.

[Lisa] Each one is just a really unique kind of piece of art really in my mind.

Video cuts to Erich in his office.

[Erich] It’s possible that there will be new techniques and new digital techniques that researchers can use to basically tease out more information than what we can right now.

Close-up of a larger tree cross-section with varying widths of concentric rings and scarring on the bark.

[Erich] By digitizing them you know it just creates a longer record so the legacy of that dataset can be preserved.

Description

Trees are the silent storytellers of our natural world. Each individual, a different tale to tell. Each ring, a chapter of growth. Researchers in Glacier have collected cross-sections of fallen trees throughout the park to tease out these stories related to avalanche history. The next step is making these wooden records digitally available to the public. Hear from USGS researchers Dr. Erich Peitzsch and Lisa McKeon about their building of this database and why these samples are important to preserve.

Duration

1 minute, 29 seconds

Credit

NPS / Sophia Britto, Renata Harrison, & Kylie Caesar

Date Created

09/18/2024

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