Swiss Tree Ring Chronology from 141 to -31 BP

141 to -31 calendar years before present (BP) of tree ring width measurements from a site in Switzerland, Western Europe. The data is archived by the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) World Data Service for Paleoclimatology. This study was last updated in 1981.

Use Cases

• Calibrating regional climate models using the tree ring width time-series as a temperature or precipitation proxy.
• Analyzing growth anomaly patterns in the tree ring series to identify volcanic or climatic events within the 172-year period.
• Cross-dating this chronology (ITRDB SWIT118) with other European tree ring datasets to validate regional climate reconstructions.
• Studying long-term forest growth trends and responses in a Swiss Bannwald (protected forest) environment over centuries.

Strengths

• Covers a 172-year time period (141 to -31 BP) from a specific geographic location in Switzerland.
• Part of the authoritative International Tree-Ring Data Bank (ITRDB) collection curated by NOAA NCEI.

Limitations

• Temporal coverage is limited to 172 years, which is relatively short for some paleoclimate trend analyses.
• Data is from a single site (Bannwald Sud Tanne Abst.), limiting spatial representativeness for broader regional studies.
• The dataset was last updated in 1981, indicating potential staleness in metadata or documentation standards.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Tree ring width measurements (dendrochronology) from a sample site.

Time Range

141 to -31 calendar years before present (BP).

Freshness

Last updated 1981-01-01.

Geography

Switzerland, Western Europe.