Michigan Tree Ring Chronology from 277 to 72 BP

Tree ring width measurements from Michigan provide a 205-year climate record from 277 to 72 calendar years before present. The dataset is archived by the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information under its Paleoclimatology program. It was contributed by the Larson research group as part of the PIRE-ITRDB collection.

Use Cases

• Reconstruct past temperature or precipitation anomalies by analyzing the annual tree ring width series.
• Calibrate climate models for the North American Midwest using the precisely dated proxy record spanning two centuries.
• Study the frequency of environmental stressors, such as droughts, indicated by sequences of narrow rings in the chronology.
• Compare this local Michigan chronology with other regional tree ring datasets to analyze spatial climate patterns.

Strengths

• Covers a continuous 205-year period (277 to 72 BP) with annual resolution.
• Part of the authoritative ITRDB (International Tree-Ring Data Bank) collection curated by NOAA NCEI.
• Includes specific geographic location metadata for Michigan, USA.

Limitations

• Small temporal coverage of 205 years limits analysis of long-term, multi-centennial climate trends.
• Unknown sample size (number of tree cores) and replication, which affects statistical confidence in the record.
• Data is temporally stale, focused on a specific pre-industrial period and not updated with modern observations.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Tree ring cores collected and measured using standard dendrochronological techniques.

Time Range

277 to 72 calendar years before present (BP).

Freshness

null

Geography

Michigan, United States of America.