Colorado Tree-Ring Chronology from 781 to 39 BCE

820-year tree-ring chronology from the Island Lake site in Colorado provides a proxy record for past climate conditions. The data was archived by NOAA's World Data Service for Paleoclimatology and is associated with the International Tree-Ring Data Bank. This specific record was last updated in the system in 1989.

Use Cases

• Reconstruct past temperature or precipitation anomalies by analyzing annual ring-width measurements.
• Calibrate climate models using the high-resolution, annually-dated proxy data spanning centuries.
• Study the frequency and severity of historical droughts in Colorado by identifying narrow growth rings.
• Cross-date archaeological wood samples from the region using the established tree-ring chronology.

Strengths

• Covers 820 consecutive years from 781 to 39 BCE, providing a long-term baseline.
• Part of the authoritative International Tree-Ring Data Bank (ITRDB) collection curated by NOAA.

Limitations

• Data is temporally stale, with no updates recorded since 1989.
• Limited geographic scope to a single site (Island Lake, Colorado).
• Lacks accompanying modern metadata on specific measurement parameters or quality flags.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Tree-ring core samples analyzed to create a standardized ring-width chronology.

Time Range

781 to 39 calendar years Before Present (BP).

Freshness

null

Geography

Island Lake, Colorado, United States.