390 calendar years of tree ring width measurements from Owl Canyon, Colorado, provide a proxy record for past climate conditions. The dataset is archived by NOAA's World Data Service for Paleoclimatology as part of the International Tree-Ring Data Bank. This specific chronology was published in 1964.
Use Cases
- Reconstruct past temperature or precipitation anomalies by analyzing the annual tree ring width time-series.
- Calibrate radiocarbon dating or validate other paleoclimate proxies using the established tree ring chronology.
- Study the frequency of drought events in Colorado by identifying sequences of narrow rings in the time-series.
- Correlate ring width patterns with known volcanic or climatic events within the 390-year coverage period.
Strengths
- Time-series covers 390 calendar years before present, providing a multi-century climate record.
- Data is part of the authoritative International Tree-Ring Data Bank (ITRDB) collection curated by NOAA/NCEI.
Limitations
- Temporal coverage ends at 14 years BP, making the record potentially stale for calibrating very recent climate trends.
- Data is from a single site (Owl Canyon), limiting spatial representativeness for the broader Colorado region.
Provenance
- Source
- NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) World Data Service for Paleoclimatology.
- Collection Method
- Tree ring cores collected and measured using standard dendrochronological techniques.
- Time Range
- 390 to -14 calendar years before present (BP).
- Freshness
- null
- Geography
- Owl Canyon, Colorado, United States of America.