Colorado Fire History Reconstruction From Tree Rings

Tree-ring fire-scar data reconstructs historical fire events in Colorado. The time series covers 416 calendar years, from 372 to -44 years before present. The dataset was produced by NOAA NCEI's World Data Service for Paleoclimatology and was archived in 1994.

Use Cases

• Analyze fire return intervals and seasonality using the fire-scar dates and intra-ring positions.
• Correlate fire event years from the tree-ring chronology with regional climate proxy records.
• Map the spatial extent of historical fires using the geographic location metadata for site BM28.
• Study long-term changes in fire frequency by examining the time series spanning 416 years.

Strengths

• Time series spans 416 calendar years, providing a multi-century record.
• Data is curated and archived by the authoritative NOAA NCEI World Data Service for Paleoclimatology.

Limitations

• Data is temporally stale, with no updates since its archival in 1994.
• Geographic coverage is limited to a single site (BM28) in Colorado.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Data derived from fire-scar analysis of tree rings.

Time Range

372 to -44 calendar years before present (BP).

Freshness

1994-01-01

Geography

Colorado, United States Of America (specific site BM28).