Mt. Hood Tree Ring Chronology from 244 BC to 33 AD

Tree ring width measurements from Tsuga mertensiana trees near Mt. Hood's Timberline Lodge provide a climate proxy record spanning 277 years. The data, archived by NOAA's World Data Service for Paleoclimatology, was published in 1983. It represents one of the oldest continuous dendrochronological series from the Pacific Northwest.

Use Cases

• Calibrating regional climate models using the tree ring width time-series as a proxy for temperature or precipitation.
• Analyzing growth anomaly patterns within the chronology to identify extreme historical climate events.
• Cross-referencing this Tsuga mertensiana series with other ITRDB chronologies to validate broader regional climate reconstructions.

Strengths

• Time-series covers a continuous 277-year period from 244 BC to 33 AD.
• Data originates from the authoritative NOAA/NCEI World Data Service for Paleoclimatology archive.

Limitations

• Data is temporally stale, with no updates since its publication in 1983.
• Sample size is unknown, potentially representing a limited number of tree cores.
• Geographic coverage is restricted to a single site near Mt. Hood, Oregon.

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), World Data Service (WDS) for Paleoclimatology.

Collection Method

Tree ring width measurements from Tsuga mertensiana (TSME) trees.

Time Range

244 BC to 33 AD (calendar years before present).

Freshness

1983-01-01

Geography

Mt. Hood Timberline Lodge, Oregon, United States.