Ramzi Touchan

Dr. Touchan's research integrates dendrochronology into natural and water resources management in the Middle East, Eastern Mediterranean (Greece, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Cyprus, and Jordan), and North Africa (Morocco, Algeria and, Tunisia). Dr. Touchan and his colleagues conducted the first large-scale systematic dendroclimatic sampling for the eastern Mediterranean, Middle East, and North Africa. He also developed the first climate field reconstruction using Palmer drought Index for North Africa. This pioneering work, supported by the National Science Foundation, is critically important in an arid region where understanding and managing water resources essential for sustaining resources. This network will be used to study interannual to century scale climate fluctuations in the region and their links to large-scale patterns of climate variability.