Feasibility of High-Density Climate Reconstruction Based on Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Collected Tree-Ring Data

Abstract

Abstract This study introduces a novel tree-ring dataset, with unparalleled spatial density, for use as a climate proxy. Ancillary Douglas fir and piñon pine tree-ring data collected by the U.S. Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis Program (FIA data) were subjected to a series of tests to determine their feasibility as climate proxies. First, temporal coherence between the FIA data and previously published tree-ring chronologies was found to be significant. Second, spatial and temporal coherence between the FIA data and water year precipitation was strong. Third, the FIA data captured the El Niño–Southern Oscillation dipole and revealed considerable latitudinal fluctuation over the past three centuries. Finally, the FIA data confirmed the quadrature-phase coupling between wet/dry cycles and Pacific decadal variability known to exist for the Intermountain West. The results highlight the possibility of further developing high-spatial-resolution climate proxy datasets for the western United States. (The preliminary FIA data are provided online at http://cliserv.jql.usu.edu/FIAdata/ in both station and gridded format.)