Swiss Tree Ring Chronology for Paleoclimate Reconstruction

NOAA/WDS Paleoclimatology archives a tree-ring dataset from the Prés des Champs VS site in Switzerland. The data provides a 99-year chronology for calendar years 70 to -29 BP, collected by researcher Schweingruber. This record is maintained by the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information.

Use Cases

• Calibrate climate models using the tree-ring width chronology as a proxy for past temperature or precipitation.
• Analyze growth anomaly patterns within the 99-year series to identify extreme historical climate events.
• Cross-date and validate other regional tree-ring chronologies using the established PCAB - ITRDB SWIT161 series.
• Study long-term ecological responses in Alpine environments using the annually resolved tree-ring data.

Strengths

• Data spans a 99-year chronology from 70 to -29 BP, providing a continuous historical record.
• Archived by the authoritative NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) under WDS standards.

Limitations

• Temporal coverage is limited to 99 years, which is short for some long-term climate trend analyses.
• Data is geographically restricted to a single site (Prés des Champs VS) in Switzerland.
• The dataset was last updated in 1979, indicating it is a static archive with no recent additions.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Tree-ring data collection and analysis by researcher Schweingruber.

Time Range

70 to -29 calendar years before present (BP).

Freshness

Static archive last updated in 1979.

Geography

Prés des Champs VS, Switzerland, Western Europe.