Colorado Ponderosa Pine Tree Ring Chronology from Elevenmile Reservoir

490 annual tree-ring width measurements from Ponderosa Pine (PIPO) at Elevenmile Reservoir, Colorado, spanning 443 to -47 calendar years before present. This paleoclimatology dataset was archived by NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) under the World Data Service. The data was last updated in the NOAA system in 1997.

Use Cases

• Reconstruct annual temperature or precipitation anomalies for Colorado using the tree-ring width time-series.
• Calibrate climate models by comparing the 490-year ring-width chronology with instrumental records.
• Analyze growth response and climate sensitivity of Ponderosa Pine (PIPO) in a semi-arid reservoir environment.
• Identify extreme climatic events like droughts within the 443 to -47 BP period from ring-width anomalies.

Strengths

• Provides a 490-year continuous chronology for climate analysis.
• Data is curated and archived by the authoritative NOAA NCEI World Data Service for Paleoclimatology.

Limitations

• Temporal coverage ends at -47 BP (approximately 1997 CE), lacking recent decades.
• Single species (PIPO) and site (Elevenmile Reservoir) limit regional generalizability.
• Specific measurement parameters and potential confounding factors are detailed only in separate metadata.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Tree-ring measurements (dendrochronology) from Ponderosa Pine samples.

Time Range

443 to -47 calendar years before present (BP).

Freshness

null

Geography

Elevenmile Reservoir, Colorado, United States of America.