Mount Hood Tree Ring Chronology from 226 to 42 BC

NOAA/WDS Paleoclimatology archives a tree ring chronology from Mountain Hemlock (TSME) trees at Mount Hood, Oregon. The dataset provides annual-resolution proxy climate data covering 268 years from 226 to 42 BC. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) maintains this record, which was last updated in 1992.

Use Cases

• Reconstruct past temperature or precipitation anomalies by analyzing the annual ring-width series.
• Calibrate the tree-ring chronology against known climate events within the 226-42 BC time period.
• Compare the TSME (Mountain Hemlock) growth patterns with other regional chronologies for climate signal consistency.
• Study the frequency of narrow marker rings as potential proxies for volcanic or drought events in the pre-industrial era.

Strengths

• Covers a continuous 268-year period (226 to 42 BC) providing a multi-century climate proxy.
• Data is sourced from the authoritative NOAA NCEI World Data Service for Paleoclimatology.
• Provides annual-resolution data, enabling high-precision climate reconstruction.

Limitations

• Temporal coverage is limited to a specific 268-year window in the pre-Common Era.
• The dataset was last updated in 1992, indicating it may not reflect recent methodological advances.
• Geographic scope is limited to a single site (Mount Hood, Oregon), reducing regional representativeness.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Tree ring analysis (dendrochronology) of Mountain Hemlock (Tsuga mertensiana) samples.

Time Range

226 to 42 BC (calendar years before present).

Freshness

1992-01-01

Geography

Mount Hood, Oregon, United States of America.