Andy Nelson, Photojournalist

Gallery, Video, Story: Vietnam Tree Coring Expedition

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  • Click for audio slideshowClick here to read the story in The Christian Science Monitor
  • Brendan Buckley, Doherty Research scientist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory's Tree Ring Laboratory, pauses while hiking to ancient trees in Bidoup Nui Ba National Park near Dalat, Vietnam. Buckley has worked hard to forge collaborations with Vietnamese researchers and park officials in an effort to gain access to ancient trees in the Central Highlands. His dendrochronology research on ancient trees in the tropics in Southeast Asia has given scientists a greater understanding of past climatic events in the region.
  • Buckley ferries bags across the Da Nhim River on the border of Bidoup Nui Ba National Park near Dalat, Vietnam. Heavy rains washed away the bridge that normally makes crossing easier.
  • Stars shine brightly through pine trees at the base camp established by Vietnamese rangers for the research expedition of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory tree ring laboratory in Bidoup Nui Ba National Park near Dalat, Vietnam.
  • Buckley crosses a creek at Bidoup Nui Ba National Park near Dalat, Vietnam on the first day of field work in the park.
  • Le Canh Nam, forest specialist with the technical and scientific research department of Bidoup Nui Ba National Park, leads the expedition to a grove of Po Mu trees to begin coring for research.
  • Buckley navigates over a downed tree in Bidoup Nui Ba National Park near Dalat, Vietnam. It was four hours of hard hiking through dense forest to reach the trees Buckley was seeking for his research.
  • Le Canh Nam, forest specialist with the technical and scientific research department of Bidoup Nui Ba National Park, shows Buckley where there are several Po Mu trees they will core for research.
  • Known to the Vietnamese as Po Mu, the fokienia trees have a unique leaf pattern.
  • A corer begins to bore into a fokienia tree. The five millimeter corer is hollow and as it drills into the tree, a smal core of tree rings is encased in the corer. The core is then removed and placed in a tube for transport back to the lab where it will be mounted sanded and the tree rings analyzed.
  • Le Canh Nam, forest specialist with the technical and scientific research department of Bidoup Nui Ba National Park, cores a fokienia tree in Bidoup Nui Ba National Park near Dalat, Vietnam. Nham found the grove of trees used by the expedition on previous forays into the forest.
  • Le Canh Nam, forest specialist with the technical and scientific research department of Bidoup Nui Ba National Park, cores a fokienia tree in Bidoup Nui Ba National Park near Dalat, Vietnam. Nham found the grove of trees used by the expedition on previous forays into the forest.
  • Le Canh Nam, forest specialist with the technical and scientific research department of Bidoup Nui Ba National Park, cores a fokienia tree in Bidoup Nui Ba National Park near Dalat, Vietnam. Known to the Vietnamese as Po Mu, the fokienia trees were the focus of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory tree ring laboratory expedition. Trees in excess of 700-years old were found by the researchers during their work in the park.
  • Kevin Anchukaitis, postdoctoral research fellow at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory's Tree Ring Laboratory, left, listens with mobil ranger team leader Cao Minh Tri, as Le Canh Nam, right, discusses a core sample from a fokienia tree. The Vietnamese rangers and researchers are essential to the success of work done by the tree ring scientists providing logistical support and intimate knowledge of the forest and its environs.
  • Tightly spaced growth rings show the slow pace of growth of a fokienia tree in Bidoup Nui Ba National Park near Dalat, Vietnam. The core is placed in a tube for transport back to the lab where it will be mounted sanded and the tree rings analyzed.
  • Buckley bathes in a creek near base camp after his first day of field work in the park. They were able to core 8 trees the first day finding trees with rings that likely put the trees older than 500 years.
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