How the world's loneliest tree is aiding scientists in their work on climate change

On a remote and windswept island some 700km south of New Zealand, grows the world's loneliest tree. Green, bushy, large — as trees go, it's pretty unremarkable.

Sitting in the middle of the permanently uninhabited subantarctic Campbell Island, thenine-metre-tall Sitka spruce is 250 kilometres away from its closest companion. In fact, it is the only tree on the island.

The100-year-old pine has been recognised by the Guinness World Records as the"most remote tree in the world".However, technically, this lonelytree should not be here.

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Its very existence is now helping to advance groundbreaking climate change research.

Online interest in the world's loneliest tree and its survival tale is nothing new.

As reported by the Guardian, Jocelyn Turnbull, a climate scientist, saw the tree for a different reason.

Dr. Turnbull, who is the head of radiocarbon science at GNS Science New Zealand, is in charge of a significant study that is a component of the Antarctic Science Platform, a government-funded study that aims to increase knowledge of the effects of Antarctica on the Earth's system.

In order to comprehend the Southern Ocean's function as a carbon sink, Dr. Turnbull and her colleagues, specialists in radiocarbon measurement, are looking into the source of CO2 emissions from fossil fuels.

Dr. Turnbull claimed that due to the westerly winds and absence of land to slow the wind down, the Southern Ocean is the most crucial location to study the exchange of carbon dioxide.

"That windiness drives this huge overturning of the water, brings up deep water to the surface and mixes, which allows the ocean to take up more carbon thanother areas in the ocean that aren't as dynamic," she said.

So,where does the world's loneliest tree come in?

Dr. Turnbull must weigh past and present data of radiocarbon and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere surrounding the Southern Ocean in order to draw a judgement.

"We did not collect samples in the Southern Ocean 30 years ago,and you can't go back and sample the air that was there 30 years because it's not there anymore," she explains.

As it turns out, tree rings can give you this record.

"Every year, you have a ring you can distinguish and you can slice those rings out and measure the radiocarbon in them, and then we can get this story back in time of what's been happening with how the Southern Ocean has been changing," Dr. Turnbull says.

Why this tree?

To avoid running out of items to measure, Dr. Turnbull and her colleagues needed to travel as far into the Southern Ocean as they could. There isn't a lot of land, you can see by looking at a map of the planet, she added.

It was the lowest the team could travel to where there was a living tree—at 52 degrees south latitude.

The team decided to take a chance on Campbell Island and this lone tree because the options were slim.

A taleof survival

The bright star of Dr. Turnbull is thought to have been planted on the isolated island in or around 1907 by Lord Ranfurly, the New Zealand governor general at the time.

Many people think that the tree has survived for so long because the island is so nearly "untouched."

"You are literally tripping over penguins, you have albatrossesflying up to have a look at you. Compared to anything else you can think of, they are untouched," Dr. Turnbull says.

The Tree of Ténéré formerly held the distinction of being named the world's loneliest tree, before the Sitka spruce.

This lone acacia served as a crucial navigational landmark and a reminder of perseverance in the face of a challenging environment. It was the only tree for 400 kilometres in the Sahara Desert of Niger.

However, a Libyan truck driver struck the tree in 1973 while travelling along an old caravan route.

The dead tree was displayed in the National Museum of Niger.

Why is the tree lonely?

The future of the spruce is a topic of intense controversy among botanists and scientists, but Dr. Turnbull feels that its existence has benefitted individuals far beyond her studies by giving company to those who are most alone.

"There's been a princess who fled from Scotland, whalers, seafarers, research exhibitions and people stranded," Dr.Turnbull explains.

"I've even heard that when people were living there on research exhibitions, supposedly they would go and take the top out of this tree and use it for a Christmas tree."

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