Journal
QUATERNARY RESEARCH
Volume 75, Issue 1, Pages 11-17Publisher
ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1016/j.yqres.2010.07.011
Keywords
Signal-to-noise index (SNI); Charcoal analysis; Fire history; Lake sediment; Paleoecology
Funding
- NSF [ARC 0612366]
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Charcoal peaks in lake-sediment records are commonly used to reconstruct fire histories spanning thousands of years, but quantitative methods for evaluating the suitability of records for peak detection are largely lacking. We present a signal-to-noise index (SNI) that quantifies the separation of charcoal peaks (signal) from other variability in a record (noise). We validate the SNI with simulated and empirical charcoal records and show that an SNI > 3 consistently identifies records appropriate for peak detection. The SNI thus offers a means to evaluate the suitability of sediment-charcoal records for reconstructing local fires. MATLAB and R functions for calculating SNI are provided. Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of University of Washington.
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