Cedar Cliff Farm Tree Ring Chronology from Iowa

150 calendar years of tree ring data from the Cedar Cliff Farm site in Iowa, spanning from 123 to -27 years before present. This archived paleoclimatology study was contributed by Landers and is available from the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. The dataset was last updated in the NOAA system in 1977.

Use Cases

• Calibrating regional climate models using the tree ring width time-series as a proxy for past temperature or precipitation.
• Analyzing growth anomaly patterns within the 150-year chronology to identify extreme historical climate events.
• Cross-dating and validating other tree ring chronologies from the Iowa region using this ITRDB (International Tree-Ring Data Bank) series.

Strengths

• Covers a 150-year time period (123 to -27 BP) providing a multi-century climate proxy.
• Data is archived and curated by the authoritative NOAA World Data Service for Paleoclimatology.

Limitations

• The dataset's temporal coverage is relatively short (150 years) compared to millennial-length tree ring chronologies.
• Data is geographically limited to a single site (Cedar Cliff Farm, Iowa), reducing regional representativeness.
• The last recorded update was in 1977, indicating the record has not been recently revised.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Tree ring measurement (dendrochronology), archived under study type 'Tree Ring'.

Time Range

123 to -27 calendar years before present (BP).

Freshness

1977-01-01

Geography

Cedar Cliff Farm, Iowa, United States of America.