Mount Jefferson Tree-Ring Chronology from 242 to 43 BC

Tree-ring width measurements from mountain hemlock (Tsuga mertensiana) trees at Mount Jefferson, Oregon, provide a 286-year climate proxy record. The dataset, archived by NOAA NCEI's World Data Service for Paleoclimatology, covers the period from 242 to 43 years before present. It was contributed to the International Tree-Ring Data Bank and last updated in 1993.

Use Cases

• Calibrate regional climate models using the tree-ring width time-series as a proxy for past temperature or precipitation.
• Analyze growth anomalies in the ring-width series to identify volcanic eruption impacts or extreme climate events.
• Cross-date the Mount Jefferson chronology with other ITRDB series to build a longer, regional master chronology.
• Study long-term forest growth trends and resilience by examining the ring-width parameter over centuries.

Strengths

• Covers a 286-year continuous period (242 to 43 BP)
• Part of the authoritative International Tree-Ring Data Bank (ITRDB) collection
• Sourced from a specific, documented geographic location (Mount Jefferson, Oregon)

Limitations

• Data is temporally stale, last updated in 1993
• Limited geographic scope to a single site in Oregon
• Unknown sample depth (number of core samples) underlying the chronology

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Tree-ring analysis (dendrochronology) of mountain hemlock (Tsuga mertensiana) cores.

Time Range

242 to -43 calendar years BP (Before Present, where 0 BP = 1950 CE).

Freshness

1993-01-01

Geography

Mount Jefferson, Oregon, United States of America.