cc: tim Osborn <T.Osborn@uea.ac.uk>
date: Wed Nov  1 11:16:47 2000
from: Keith Briffa <k.briffa@uea.ac.uk>
subject: Re: PAGES UK mailing
to: "Eric W Wolff" <ewwo@pcmail.nerc-bas.ac.uk>, <A.Ridgwell@uea.ac.uk>, <B.Maher@uea.ac.uk>, <c.goodess@uea.ac.uk>, <g.bigg@uea.ac.uk>, <h.stuart-williams@uea.ac.uk>, <m.hounslow@uea.ac.uk>, <M.Hu@uea.ac.uk>, <m.wadley@uea.ac.uk>, <mark.chapman@uea.ac.uk>, <p.dennis@uea.ac.uk>, <p.jones@uea.ac.uk>, <p.liss@uea.ac.uk>, <P.Rowe@uea.ac.uk>, <r.k.turner@uea.ac.uk>, <s.j.watkins@uea.ac.uk>, <s.raper@uea.ac.uk>, <t.mutch@uea.ac.uk>, <t.osborn@uea.ac.uk>

   Dear Eric
   In response to your questions
   I have just returned from a meeting that I and Dominique Raynaud organised , with funding
   from PAGES,NSF, and SCAR. This was concerned with High Resolution Variability of the
   Holocene (HIHOL) and brought together over 40 invited participants to southern France to
   review the latest Forcing, marine and terrestrial records , as well as simple and coupled
   climate and vegetation model work. Beside myself, from the School of Environmental Sciences
   at UEA,  Pete Rowe represented the European Speleothem community and Tim Osborn discussed
   Empirical climate reconstruction. Other UK speakers were Sandy Tudhope (Edinburgh) and Ben
   Horton (Durham) - for details of the aims,overarching questions, program and participants
   see the web site at
   [1]http://www.cru.uea.ac.uk/cru/projects/hihol/
   A special issue of the journal Holocene is planned , in which five review papers will
   address evidence for Forcing and Global signals ; High-Latitude Ice; Oceans (mainly the
   North Atlantic); Palaeo-monsoon (including Model results) and Continental Hydrology;and
   Extra-tropical terrestrial records.  A final paper will attempt an overall state-of-the-art
   synthesis.
   In terms of new results , I and several colleagues have a paper in press in JGR
   -atmospheres in which we present a new , virtually independent reconstruction of
   hemispheric-mean summer temperatures , based on tree-ring data, spanning the last 600 years
   (as well as several smaller-scale , but still sub-continental, regional series). Our
   hemishere series agrees well on multi-decadal/ century time scales with other series (such
   as the Mann et al. , Jones et al. and recent Crowley and Lowery data) and support the
   concept of anomalous warmth (in a millennial context) in the 20th century. However, our
   explicit representation of the 2 standard errors  that bracket our hemispheric temperatures
   , stress the very large uncertainty that accompanies our own early estimates, and is at
   least as likely for the other curves.

   Our new curve will be included in the Observations chapter of the TAR.
   Finally, I am currently working , ( as second author) along with Ray Bradley, Julie Cole
   and Malcolm Hughes (all from the U.S.) on Chapter 6 of the forthcoming IGBP PAGES Synthesis
   Volume . Our topic is "The Climate of the Last Millennium".
   At 08:33 AM 10/30/00 +0000, Eric W Wolff wrote:

     To: UK PAGES mailing list (please advise of additions, corrections, deletions),
     After the very successful UK meeting in March, i thought I should stay quiet for a
     while.  However, we have one of the (twice-yearly) meetings of the UK IGBP National
     Committee (on which I am the only person with PAGES interests) on 23rd November, and
     this has prompted this mailing, with a few small items.
     1. If anyone has anything appropriate that I should raise as an issue at the UK IGBP NC
     then please let me know.  Obviously this meeting has limited power and influence, but it
     can get its views in at the highest levels of both NERC and IGBP, so if there is a major
     nurning issue, please do let me know.
     2. Equally, I am expected to give a few minutes report on PAGES, both from a national
     and international viewpoint.  I am expected to give a summary next Monday.  So, could
     you please let me know (this week) any major pieces of PAGES news that I can slip in.
     Of particular interest would be big new results/papers, PAGES sponsored or related
     meetings that you have attended this summer, and any activity you may have been involved
     in for the PAGES synthesis report.  Thank you.
     3. News: I have been telling this list about the NERC PRESCIENT thematic programme that
     is coming up.  The plan had been to issue an Announcement of opportunity in August, with
     a town meeting soon after.  However, in August, the SC members received a message from
     NERC saying "Although we have no reason to believe that the funding for the programme is
     in question, owing to the DGRC (Director General Research Council)'s constraints the
     NERC Chief Executive feels that the required prudence should extend to the Announcement
     (for Prescient) being delayed until the full details of the Spending Review are
     finalised.  We should be able to issue the Announcement within the next three months,
     with the subsequent events correspondingly delayed".
     This is very disappointing.  We have been told that we were not the only delayed
     programme.  However there has been complete silence from NERC since August, so I have no
     further news.  I think we should continue to be optimistic, so expect an AO and Town
     Meeting soon.  NERC did tell us that a Science Coordinator has been identified, who can
     start on the programme as soon as the go-ahead is given.
     4. The latest PAGES information can be found at the International PAGES web site at
     [2]http://www.pages-igbp.org/
     I am sure most of you are aware about the big IGBP Global Change Open Science
     Conference  "Challenges of a Changing Earth" to be held at 10-14 July, 2001, Amsterdam,
     The Netherlands.  See [3]http://www.sciconf.igbp.kva.se/
     I will of course report any important issues that come out of the IGBP UK NC meeting.
     Best regards
     Eric
     ----------------------------
     Eric Wolff
     British Antarctic Survey
     High Cross
     Madingley Road
     Cambridge CB3 0ET
     United Kingdom
     E-mail: ewwo@bas.ac.uk
     Phone: +44 1223 221491
     Fax: +44 1223 221279 (note new number)
     Alternate fax: +44 1223 362616

