Sacramento Mountains Tree Ring Chronology from 340 BC

Tree ring width measurements from ponderosa pine (PIPO) trees near West Side Road in the Sacramento Mountains of New Mexico provide a 384-year climate proxy record. The dataset, archived by NOAA's World Data Service for Paleoclimatology, covers the period from 340 to 44 calendar years before present. It was contributed by Wilkinson Kaye and last updated in 1994.

Use Cases

• Reconstruct annual precipitation or drought indices for New Mexico using the tree ring width time-series.
• Calibrate regional climate models by comparing the PIPO ring-width chronology with known historical climate periods.
• Analyze growth patterns and climate sensitivity of ponderosa pine (PIPO) in a specific mountain range environment.
• Cross-date archaeological wood samples from the southwestern US using the established tree-ring chronology.

Strengths

• Covers a 384-year period (340 to 44 BP), providing a multi-century climate record.
• Data is curated and archived by the authoritative NOAA/NCEI World Data Service for Paleoclimatology.

Limitations

• Temporal coverage ends 44 years BP, with no updates since 1994, limiting modern climate comparisons.
• Sample size and replication statistics for the tree-ring chronology are unknown from the provided metadata.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Tree ring cores collected from ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa, PIPO) trees, measured and cross-dated to create a standardized chronology.

Time Range

340 to 44 calendar years before present (BP).

Freshness

null

Geography

West Side Road, Sacramento Mountains, New Mexico, United States of America.