Information About People

Dr Rob Wilson

Position: Lecturer
Tel: +44 1334 463914
Fax: +44 01334 463949
E-mail: rjsw @st-andrews.ac.uk

Research Expertise Profile
Publications

Biography

I graduated with a BSc (hons) degree in Geology from Durham University in 1992. In 1993, I was awarded a graduate honours diploma from the Institute of Antarctic and Southern Ocean Studies (IASOS), University of Tasmania, Australia. During 1994, I stayed at IASOS and worked as a tree-ring laboratory technician. On returning to Europe, I worked as a Geologist for a building company in Germany while also starting up my own tree-ring laboratory undertaking historical dating in the Bavarian Forest Region. In 1997, I moved to Canada and acquired a MSc (1999) and PhD (2003) in Environmental Science from the University of Western Ontario. Between 2003 and 2007 I returned to the United Kingdom and worked as a post-doctoral research fellow at Edinburgh University. In 2006, I also became an adjunct Associate Research Scientist at the Tree-Ring Laboratory, Columbia University while in October 2007, I took up a lectureship position at St Andrews.

My research focus and passion is dendrochronology with specific emphasis on the reconstruction and understanding of climate for the last 1000-2000 years. Over the last few years, I have also work with other annually resolved proxy archives such as corals and historical documents to target other regions (e.g. the tropics) and seasons (e.g. winter) which cannot normally be examined using tree-ring data. I am also currently funded through the European Commission to utilises non-annually resolved proxy data such as speleothem, lake sediment and ice core archives to study past climate. Since arriving at St Andrews I have set up a modest tree-ring laboratory for the measurement of tree ring-width data.

Profile

• 1992: B.Sc. Geology. University of Durham
• 1993: Graduate Diploma. Antarctic studies. University of Tasmania, Australia
• 1999: M.Sc. Geography and Environmental Science, University of Western Ontario, Canada
• 2003: Ph.D. Geography and Environmental Science, University of Western Ontario, Canada
• 2004-07: Post-Doctoral Research Fellow. University of Edinburgh
• 2006-present: Adjunct Associate Research Scientist, Tree-Ring Laboratory, Columbia University
• 2007-present: Lecturer in Physical Geography. School of Geography & Geosciences, University of St Andrews

Research interests

• Dendrochronology

• Palaeoclimatology of the last 2000 years

• Other annually resolved proxy archives (e.g. corals and historical documents)

Postgraduate Students

• Keziah Stott
• Cheryl Wood

Teaching

• GG1001 – Foundations of Geography
• GG1002 – Global Environmental Problems
• GE3005 / GS3002 – Data Analysis
• GE3002 - Field Class in Geography (Pyrenees field trip)
• GG4090 - Late Holocene Palaeoclimatology: Studying Climate Change for the last 1000-2000 years
• Coordinator for GG1001, GG1002 and GG4090

Publications

Wilson R, Cook E, D'Arrigo R, Riedwyl N, Evans MN, Tudhope A and Allan R.   Reconstructing ENSO: the influence of method, proxy data, climate forcing and teleconnections. J. Quaternary Sci., (2009). ISSN 0267-8179.

Wilson R, D’Arrigo R, Buckley B, Büntgen U, Esper J, Frank D, Luckman B, Payette S, Vose R and Youngblut D 2007. A matter of divergence – tracking recent warming at hemispheric scales using tree-ring data. JGR - Atmopsheres. 112, D17103, doi:10.1029/2006JD008318.

Wilson R, Wiles G, D'Arrigo R and Zweck C 2007. Cycles and Shifts: 1300-years of multi-decadal temperature variability in the Gulf of Alaska. Climate Dynamics. 28:425–440. DOI 10.1007/s00382-006-0194-9.

Wilson R, Tudhope A, Brohan P, Briffa K, Osborn T and Tett S 2006. 250-years of reconstructed and modeled tropical temperatures. Journal of Geophysical Research. 111, C10007, doi:10.1029/2005JC003188.

Further Information

St. Andrews Tree-Ring Laboratory

Publications