Watson Lake Tree-Ring Chronology from Yukon Territory

Tree-ring width measurements from the Watson Lake area in Yukon Territory, Canada, used for paleoclimate reconstruction. The chronology covers 241 years, from 208 to -33 calendar years before present. Data is archived by the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) World Data Service for Paleoclimatology, with a last update recorded in 1983.

Use Cases

• Calibrate climate models using tree-ring width as a proxy for past temperature or precipitation in the Yukon region.
• Analyze growth anomaly patterns within the 241-year chronology to identify extreme climatic events.
• Compare this site chronology with other ITRDB records to reconstruct spatial climate patterns across North America.

Strengths

• Chronology spans 241 calendar years, providing a multi-century climate record.
• Data is part of the authoritative International Tree-Ring Data Bank (ITRDB) collection curated by NOAA NCEI.

Limitations

• Temporal coverage is relatively short (241 years) compared to many millennial-length tree-ring chronologies.
• Data was last updated in 1983, potentially lacking modern reanalysis or updated calibration.
• Single-site data from Yukon Territory limits broad spatial analysis without combining other datasets.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Tree-ring core samples analyzed for width measurements (dendrochronology).

Time Range

208 to -33 calendar years before present (BP).

Freshness

Last updated in 1983.

Geography

Watson Lake area, Yukon Territory, Canada.