Piute Mountain Tree Ring Chronology from 422 to 31 BCE

Tree ring width measurements from the Piute Mountain site in California provide a 453-year paleoclimate record. The NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information archives this dataset, originally published in 1981. Data coverage spans from 422 to 31 years before the present (BP), representing calendar years before the Common Era.

Use Cases

• Reconstruct annual temperature or precipitation anomalies for California using tree ring width as a proxy.
• Calibrate and validate regional climate models by comparing simulated past climate against the tree ring chronology.
• Analyze the frequency and severity of historical drought events in the Sierra Nevada region from the ring width series.
• Establish cross-dating with other tree ring chronologies to build a longer, more robust regional climate record.

Strengths

• 453-year continuous chronology from 422 to 31 BP.
• Data is curated and archived by the authoritative NOAA World Data Service for Paleoclimatology.

Limitations

• Dataset is temporally stale, with a last update date of 1981, potentially missing modern analytical refinements.
• Geographic scope is limited to a single site (Piute Mountain), which may not represent broader regional climate.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Tree ring core samples analyzed via dendrochronology.

Time Range

422 to -31 calendar years BP (Before Present).

Freshness

null

Geography

Piute Mountain, California, United States of America.