Brazos River Tree Ring Chronology from 282 to -32 BP

Tree ring width data from the Brazos River region in Texas, United States, used for paleoclimate reconstruction. The chronology spans 314 years from 282 to -32 calendar years before present. The dataset was archived by NOAA NCEI's World Data Service for Paleoclimatology, with the study published in 1982.

Use Cases

• Reconstruct historical river flow or drought indices for the Brazos River basin using the tree ring width parameter.
• Calibrate climate models by comparing the tree ring chronology from 282 to -32 BP with other regional paleoclimate proxies.
• Analyze the frequency and severity of pre-industrial drought events in Texas through statistical analysis of the ring width time series.

Strengths

• 314-year chronology providing a multi-century paleoclimate record.
• Data is curated and archived by the authoritative NOAA NCEI World Data Service for Paleoclimatology.

Limitations

• The dataset's last update was in 1982, making it temporally stale for modern analytical techniques.
• Limited geographic scope to a single site (ITRDB TX018) in Texas, reducing regional representativeness.
• Unknown sample size and replication depth of the underlying tree ring cores.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Tree ring analysis (dendrochronology).

Time Range

282 to -32 calendar years before present (BP).

Freshness

1982-01-01

Geography

Brazos River region, Texas, United States Of America.