Bear Island Tree Ring Chronology For Maryland Climate Reconstruction

114 tree-ring width measurements from Bear Island, Maryland, covering the period from 114 to -28 calendar years before present. This paleoclimatology dataset was archived by NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information under the World Data Service. The data was last updated in the NOAA system in 1978.

Use Cases

• Reconstruct past temperature or precipitation anomalies using the tree-ring width time-series as a climate proxy.
• Calibrate the tree-ring chronology against known climate events within the 142-year temporal coverage.
• Analyze growth patterns in the tree-ring parameter to identify periods of environmental stress or favorable conditions.
• Compare this Maryland site chronology with other ITRDB records to assess regional climate signals.

Strengths

• Provides a 142-year continuous chronology for climate analysis.
• Archived by the authoritative NOAA World Data Service for Paleoclimatology with associated metadata.

Limitations

• The dataset is temporally stale, with a last update date of 1978, indicating no recent revisions.
• Limited geographic scope to a single site (Bear Island, Maryland), reducing broad spatial representativeness.
• The small 142-year coverage is brief for paleoclimate studies compared to millennial-length chronologies.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Tree ring data collection and standardization for the International Tree-Ring Data Bank (ITRDB).

Time Range

114 to -28 calendar years before present (BP).

Freshness

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Geography

Bear Island, Maryland, United States of America.