“In sum, [Goldman Sachs] arranged a transaction at Paulson’s request in which Paulson heavily influenced the selection of the portfolio to suit its economic interests, but failed to disclose to investors, as part of the description of the portfolio selection process contained in the marketing materials used to promote the transaction, Paulson’s role in the portfolio selection process or its adverse economic interests.”

And here is the link to the SEC complaint:

http://www.sec.gov/litigation/complaints/2010/comp21489.pdf

a) Effect of water
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If the summer is very hot, growth may be limited as the tree lacks water. Therefore this will lead to a large underestimate of the true temperature. Only trees that are not likely to suffer from lack of water can thus be trusted.

b) Effect of wind
—————–

Larch is tree that has very poor wind resistance. So if the tree in question has been subject to a lot of wind during some period of it’s life, those years it’s growth cannot be compared with a later or previous period where little wind was present, or where other tres became big enough to provide shelter from the wind.

c) Effect of sunshine.
———————-
The photosynthesis could be larger in a colder climate with more sunshine hours than in a warmer climate with fewer sunshine ours.

d) Effect of age
—————-

It seems that age affects the tree-rings in indirect ways as well as direct ways. In particular, in a forrest the trees will be too close for the trees to devolop large branches horizontally. This implies only the topmost part of the tree will have green parts as the trees fight for the light. The effect is that the stems become elongated, and slimmer than they would normally have been.

So the tree might actually be growing as fast as usual (with no direct age impact). The width of the tree rings will be determined by the green parts of the tree relative to the amount of stem (vertical and hirizontal). The (green parts)/(amount of stem) ratio may of course be dependent on age, but also on other factors like wind, soil, and neighbouring trees.

So for a particular year, a particular tree can have its own particular (green parts)/(amount of stem) ratio. How may one possible reconstruct those?

In turn, this seems to imply that any approach that adjust for age by some exponential factor would need to use a different expoential function per tree. Is that what is being done?

It seems like a formidable task to interpret the tree-rings correctly. I would much more like to see comparisons of tree-rings of trees of the same age, under the same conditions (water,soil,wind etc), but growing at different periods in time, than I would see comparisons of tree rings on the same tree.

-Thorsten

Here is a link to the university along with the documents demands requested for the investigation.

Sal

The Yamal Peninsula is downwind from the island Novaya Zemalya, where the Soviets tested their bombs.

Interestingly, bristlecones, esp. the Sierra ones, are close to American above ground test sites in Nevada.

One of the earlier threads in which similar issues arose was last November’s “Miracles and Strip Bark Standardization.” A dendrologist engaged in back and forth in the comments (likely a dendrologist, as “CB” was pseudonymous). My too-long comment provides an entry to that part of that thread. It seems some of the issues discussed there may be relevant here, as well.