Tree ring width measurements from the Gros Ventre area in Wyoming provide a 509-year climate proxy record. The dataset covers the period from 488 to 21 calendar years before present, ending just before the Common Era. It is archived by NOAA's World Data Service for Paleoclimatology as part of their paleoclimate studies collection.
Use Cases
- Reconstruct past temperature or precipitation anomalies from annual tree ring width variations.
- Calibrate radiocarbon dating or synchronize timelines by cross-dating this chronology with other regional tree ring records.
- Analyze the frequency of extreme growth years, indicated by exceptionally narrow or wide rings, as proxies for drought or favorable conditions.
Strengths
- 509-year continuous chronology providing multi-century climate context.
- Geographically specific data point for the Gros Ventre area in Wyoming.
Limitations
- Temporal coverage ends at 21 years BP, lacking data for the last two millennia.
- Single geographic location limits regional climate inferences.
- Unknown sample depth (number of cores/trees) affects record robustness.
Provenance
- Source
- NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) World Data Service for Paleoclimatology.
- Collection Method
- Tree ring analysis (dendrochronology).
- Time Range
- 488 to -21 calendar years BP (Before Present, where 0 BP = 1950 CE).
- Freshness
- null
- Geography
- Gros Ventre area, Wyoming, United States of America.