ABSTRACT
Sampling fieldwork took place in Tierra del Fuego during 1986 and 1987, as part of a research project for the development and enlargement of the available network chronology for the Southern Hemisphere and within the specific study of the paleoclimate in Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego during the last 400 years.
As a result of this fieldwork, 20 width tree-ring chronologies were obtained, forming a net of acceptable density within the island.
The main characteristics of each chronology have been determined through the estimation of statistical parameters and variance analysis. The common variance to all chronologies was obtained using principal component analysis.
Likewise, for establishing the quality and quantity of data related with the climate in each chronology, a function of multivariate correlation was determined using an assemblage of 17 months of monthly mean temperature and 17 months of monthly rainfall since 1930 to 1986 (response function). To estimate this function, data of the Ushuaia meteorological station were employed, because this is the nearest station to the sampling sites and it provides the longer records. The chronologies show a major response to the temperature, with different proportion of the explained variance.
The possible use of these chronologies in the reconstruction of the climate in Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego during the last 400 years is discussed herein.
