Alaskan Tree Ring Chronology from Wittier Canal for Paleoclimate Study

NOAA/WDS Paleoclimatology provides a tree-ring chronology from the Wittier Canal site in Alaska. The data covers a period from 538 to -41 calendar years before present, offering a long-term environmental record. This dataset is archived by the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information.

Use Cases

• Reconstruct past temperature or precipitation using tree-ring width measurements as a proxy.
• Analyze climate periodicity and extreme events from the multi-century tree-ring chronology.
• Calibrate and validate climate models with high-resolution paleoclimate data from coastal Alaska.
• Study the growth response of Tsuga mertensiana (TSME) trees to historical environmental drivers.

Strengths

• Covers approximately 580 calendar years of environmental history.
• Sourced from the authoritative NOAA NCEI World Data Service for Paleoclimatology.
• Provides a geographically specific record for a key region in climate studies.

Limitations

• Data is temporally stale, last updated in 1991.
• Specific sample depth, measurement parameters, and potential data gaps are unknown from the description.
• Geographic coverage is limited to a single site in Alaska.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Tree ring analysis, likely measuring ring widths from Tsuga mertensiana (TSME) samples.

Time Range

538 to -41 calendar years before present (BP).

Freshness

1991-01-01

Geography

Wittier Canal, Alaska, United States of America.