Tree ring width measurements from South Dakota, USA, provide a 237-year climate proxy record ending 40 years before the present era. The dataset is archived by the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information's World Data Service for Paleoclimatology. This specific chronology was last updated in the public record in 1990.
Use Cases
- Reconstruct past temperature or precipitation anomalies by analyzing the annual tree_ring_width series.
- Calibrate climate models for the Great Plains region using the precisely dated chronology from 197 to 40 BC.
- Study the frequency of drought events by identifying periods of suppressed growth in the ring_width data.
- Compare this South Dakota site chronology with other regional tree-ring datasets to analyze spatial climate patterns.
Strengths
- Covers a 237-year continuous period (197 to 40 BC), providing a multi-century climate record.
- Sourced from the authoritative NOAA/NCEI World Data Service for Paleoclimatology, ensuring curation and metadata standards.
Limitations
- Temporal coverage ends 40 years BC, leaving a significant gap to modern instrumental records.
- Data recency is low, with a last updated date of 1990, potentially missing newer methodological refinements.
- Geographic scope is limited to a single location in South Dakota, limiting broad spatial analysis.
Provenance
- Source
- NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) World Data Service (WDS) for Paleoclimatology.
- Collection Method
- Tree ring analysis (dendrochronology); core samples were collected, cross-dated, and measured.
- Time Range
- 197 to -40 calendar years BP (Before Present, where present=1950), equivalent to 197 BC to 40 BC.
- Freshness
- 1990-01-01
- Geography
- South Dakota, United States of America.