Fire History Reconstruction from Tree Rings in Northern New Mexico

NOAA NCEI provides a paleoclimatology fire history dataset derived from tree rings at Oat Canyon Plot 3 in northern New Mexico. The data covers a period from 297 to -36 calendar years before present. It was archived by the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information in 1986.

Use Cases

• Analyze fire frequency and return intervals using the fire history chronology.
• Correlate fire event years from tree-ring data with regional climate proxy records.
• Reconstruct historical fire seasonality and intensity based on fire scar parameters in the tree-ring series.

Strengths

• Data covers a long temporal range of over 330 calendar years.
• Sourced from the authoritative NOAA NCEI World Data Service for Paleoclimatology.

Limitations

• Dataset is temporally stale, with a last update recorded in 1986.
• Geographic scope is limited to a single plot (Oat Canyon Plot 3) in New Mexico.

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

297 to -36 calendar years before present (BP).

Freshness

1986-01-01

Geography

Oat Canyon Plot 3, northern New Mexico, United States of America.