Fire History Reconstruction from Tree Rings at Lava Beds National Monument

Tree-ring data from Lava Beds National Monument's Hippo Butte provides a 266-year reconstruction of fire events in California. The dataset, archived by NOAA's World Data Service for Paleoclimatology, covers the period from 286 to 20 calendar years before present. It is part of the NOAA NCEI's Paleoclimatology collection.

Use Cases

• Analyze fire frequency and return intervals from fire-scar dates within the 266-year record.
• Correlate fire event years from the tree-ring chronology with regional climate proxy data.
• Reconstruct historical fire perimeters and intensity for the Lava Beds National Monument area using fire-scar evidence.

Strengths

• Covers a 266-year time series (286 to 20 years BP) of fire history.
• Data is curated and archived by the authoritative NOAA NCEI World Data Service for Paleoclimatology.

Limitations

• The temporal coverage ends 20 years BP, lacking data for the most recent centuries.
• Geographic scope is limited to a single site (Hippo Butte) within Lava Beds National Monument.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Data derived from tree-ring analysis (dendrochronology) for fire history parameters.

Time Range

286 to 20 calendar years before present (BP).

Freshness

null

Geography

Hippo Butte, Lava Beds National Monument, California, United States of America.