Colorado Ponderosa Pine Tree Ring Chronology from 200 BC

Tree ring width measurements from Ponderosa Pine (Pinus ponderosa) at the Alto Picnic Ground site in Colorado form a 237-year chronology. This paleoclimate proxy data, archived by NOAA's World Data Service for Paleoclimatology, covers the period from 200 to -37 calendar years before present. The dataset was published by researcher Graybill and last updated in 1987.

Use Cases

• Reconstruct annual temperature or precipitation anomalies for Colorado using the tree ring width time-series as a proxy.
• Calibrate the Ponderosa Pine chronology against other regional paleoclimate records to validate climate signals.
• Analyze growth patterns in the ring width series to identify periods of environmental stress, such as drought, during the covered timeframe.

Strengths

• 237-year continuous chronology from 200 to -37 calendar years BP provides a multi-century climate record.
• Data is curated and archived by the authoritative NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI).

Limitations

• Temporal coverage ends at -37 BP (approximately 1987 AD), making the record potentially stale for recent climate analysis.
• Data is from a single tree species (PIPO) at one location (Alto Picnic Ground), limiting spatial representativeness.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Tree ring analysis (dendrochronology) of Ponderosa Pine samples.

Time Range

200 to -37 calendar years before present (BP).

Freshness

Last updated in 1987; static historical archive.

Geography

Alto Picnic Ground, Colorado, United States of America.