Tree ring width measurements from ponderosa pine trees at Webb Peak in the Pinaleno Mountains of Arizona provide a 535-year climate proxy record. The data covers the period from 486 to -49 calendar years before present, archived by NOAA's World Data Service for Paleoclimatology. This study was published in 1999.
Use Cases
- Reconstruct past temperature or precipitation anomalies by analyzing annual tree ring width variations.
- Calibrate climate models for the southwestern US using the 535-year proxy record from ponderosa pines.
- Study extreme climate events, like droughts, visible as narrow ring sequences within the chronology.
- Investigate forest growth trends over centuries by examining the long-term ring width series.
Strengths
- Provides a 535-year continuous proxy climate record from 486 to -49 BP.
- Sourced from a specific, documented location (Webb Peak, Pinaleno Mountains, Arizona).
- Archived and standardized by NOAA's authoritative World Data Service for Paleoclimatology.
Limitations
- Data is temporally stale, last updated in 1999, with no recent additions.
- Geographic coverage is limited to a single mountain peak site in Arizona.
- The raw measurement columns and sample sizes are unspecified in the provided metadata.
Provenance
- Source
- NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) World Data Service for Paleoclimatology.
- Collection Method
- Tree ring core samples analyzed via dendrochronology to create a width chronology.
- Time Range
- 486 to -49 calendar years before present (BP).
- Freshness
- null
- Geography
- Webb Peak, Pinaleno Mountains, Arizona, United States.