Irish Oak Tree Ring Chronology from 141 to 28 BCE

Tree ring width measurements from oak trees in Killarney, Ireland, provide a climate proxy record spanning 169 years. The dataset, archived by NOAA NCEI's World Data Service for Paleoclimatology, was published in 1978. It is part of the International Tree-Ring Data Bank collection for paleoclimate research.

Use Cases

• Reconstructing past temperature or precipitation anomalies in Ireland using annual tree ring width variations.
• Calibrating and validating climate models for the late Holocene period in Northwestern Europe with precisely dated proxy data.
• Cross-dating archaeological wood samples from Irish sites by matching ring width patterns to this master chronology.
• Analyzing the frequency and severity of historical drought or cold events recorded in the tree ring series.

Strengths

• Covers a continuous 169-year period from 141 to 28 BCE, providing a multi-decadal climate record.
• Part of the authoritative International Tree-Ring Data Bank (ITRDB) and NOAA NCEI paleoclimate archive.

Limitations

• Limited geographic scope to a single site (Killarney, Ireland), reducing regional representativeness.
• The data is temporally stale, with the last update recorded in 1978, potentially lacking modern reanalysis.
• Unknown sample size (number of tree cores) and replication, which affects the statistical strength of the chronology.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Tree ring width measurements from oak (Quercus) trees, processed for dendrochronological analysis.

Time Range

141 to 28 BCE (calendar years before present).

Freshness

null

Geography

Killarney, Ireland, British Isles.