rwl_read: A MATLAB program to identify and correct formatting errors in tree-ring measurement files

Formatting errors occur frequently in tree-ring raw measurement files, for example, they are detected in 12.4%, 4.4% and 6.0% of the files in North America, Europe and Asia. However, currently existing tree-ring softwares could not correctly read these files. In this study, a new MATLAB program, rwl_read, is developed to identify and correct 8 types of frequently occurring formatting errors, including time error, core ID error, no data row, duplicate core, stop marker absence, special characters, unexpected missing value, and segmented core series. This program helps to improve the efficiency and accuracy of big data batch processing in tree-ring research. (c) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Automated summary

A new MATLAB program, rw1_read, is developed to identify and correct frequently occurring formatting errors in tree-ring raw measurement files. This program helps to improve the efficiency and accuracy of big data batch processing in tree-ring research.