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

This study introduces a novel tree-ring dataset, with unparalleled spatial density, for use as a climate proxy. Ancillary Douglas fir and pinon 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 Nino-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.)