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Dataset Overview | National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI)

NOAA/WDS Paleoclimatology - El Malpais, New Mexico 2,139yr Cool and Warm Season Precipitation Reconstructions

browse graphicPaleoclimatology - Climate Reconstruction
This archived Paleoclimatology Study is available from the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), under the World Data Service (WDS) for Paleoclimatology. The associated NCEI study type is Climate Reconstruction. The data include parameters of instrumental with a geographic location of New Mexico, United States Of America. The time period coverage is from 2086 to -52 in calendar years before present (BP). See metadata information for parameter and study location details. Please cite this study when using the data.
  • Cite as: Stahle, D.W.; Cleaveland, M.K.; Grissino-Mayer, H.D.; Griffin, R.D.; Fye, F.K.; Therrell, M.D.; Burnette, D.J.; Meko, D.M.; Villanueva-Diaz, J. (2014-07-16): NOAA/WDS Paleoclimatology - El Malpais, New Mexico 2,139yr Cool and Warm Season Precipitation Reconstructions. [indicate subset used]. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. https://doi.org/10.25921/9z4f-1v16. Accessed [date].
  • Please refer to Credit tab for full citation information.
noaa-recon-16970
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Distributor NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
ncei.info@noaa.gov
Dataset Point of Contact NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
ncei.info@noaa.gov
Dataset Point of Contact Data Center Contact
NOAA World Data Service for Paleoclimatology
828-271-4800
paleo@noaa.gov
Coverage Description Date Range: -136 CE to 2002 CE; Date Range: 2086 cal yr BP to -52 cal yr BP;
Time Period -136 to 2002
Spatial Bounding Box Coordinates
West: -108.18
East: -108.18
South: 34.97
North: 34.97
Spatial Coverage Map
General Documentation
Associated Resources
  • Cool- and Warm-Season Precipitation Reconstructions over Western New Mexico
    • Associated Reference published 2009
      D. W. Stahle, M. K. Cleaveland, H. D. Grissino-Mayer, R. D. Griffin, F. K. Fye, M. D. Therrell, D. J. Burnette, D. M. Meko, J. Villanueva Diaz, 2009: Cool- and Warm-Season Precipitation Reconstructions over Western New Mexico. Journal of Climate, 22, 3729-3750, 10.1175/2008JCLI2752.1
Publication Dates
  • publication: 2014-07-16
Data Presentation Form Digital table - digital representation of facts or figures systematically displayed, especially in columns
Dataset Progress Status Complete - production of the data has been completed
Data Update Frequency Data update frequency not available
Supplemental Information
STUDY NOTES: Precipitation reconstructions for northwestern New Mexico (average for Climate Divisions 1 and 4) based on tree ring data from El Malpais, New Mexico for the past 2,139 years. Separate reconstructions of cool season (November-May) and warm season (July) precipitation, based on earlywood and latewood width data from El Malpais National Monument. NM divs 1, 4 July total precip (mm) reconstructed from Adjusted Latewood (LRE) the residuals that are produced by regressing EW (indep var) on LW (dep var) w/normalized radii to cope w/ very dif variances, detrended w/200-yr spline, variance detrended w/100 yr spline, then using the residuals from regression as the LW series for reconstruction. All the chrons are residual (AR modeled). NM divs 1, 4 previous Nov to Curr May total precipitation (mm) reconstruction from El Malpais (by Dr.Henri Grissino-Mayer, U. Tennessee-Knoxville), updated Aug 2004 by the U. of Arkansas Tree-Ring Lab and EW-LW measured. Earlywood w/normalized radii to cope w/ very dif variances, detrend w/200-yr spline, variance detrend w/100 yr spline The EW chron is the AR-modeled ("residual") chron. El Malpais 2004 update total ring width, earlywood width, and latewood width tree ring data are archived in the International Tree-Ring Data Bank, site code NM580. Original El Malpais total ring width data are ITRDB site code NM572.
ABSTRACT SUPPLIED BY ORIGINATOR: Precipitation over the southwestern United States exhibits distinctive seasonality, and contrasting ocean-atmospheric dynamics are involved in the interannual variability of cool- and warm-season totals. Tree-ring chronologies based on annual-ring widths of conifers in the southwestern United States are well correlated with accumulated precipitation and have previously been used to reconstruct cool-season and annual precipitation totals. However, annual-ring-width chronologies cannot typically be used to derive a specific record of summer monsoon-season precipitation. Some southwestern conifers exhibit a clear anatomical transition from the earlywood and latewood components of the annual ring, and these exactly dated subannual ring components can be measured separately and used as unique proxies of cool- and warm-season precipitation and their associated large-scale ocean-atmospheric dynamics. Two 2139-yr-long reconstructions of cool- (November-May) and early-warm season (July) precipitation have been developed from ancient conifers and relict wood at El Malpais National Monument, New Mexico. Both reconstructions have been verified on independent precipitation data and reproduce the spatial correlation patterns detected in the large-scale SST and 500-mb height fields using instrumental precipitation data from New Mexico. Above-average precipitation in the cool-season reconstruction is related to El Niño conditions and to the positive phase of the Pacific decadal oscillation. Above-average precipitation in July is related to the onset of the North American monsoon over New Mexico and with anomalies in the 500-mb height field favoring moisture advection into the Southwest from the North Pacific, the Gulf of California, and the Gulf of Mexico. Cool- and warm-season precipitation totals are not correlated on an interannual basis in the 74-yr instrumental or 2139-yr reconstructed records, but wet winter-spring extremes tend to be followed by dry conditions in July and very dry winters tend to be followed by wet Julys in the reconstructions. This antiphasing of extremes could arise from the hypothesized cool- to early-warm-season change in the sign of large-scale ocean-atmospheric forcing of southwestern precipitation, from the negative land surface feedback hypothesis in which winter-spring precipitation and snow cover reduce surface warming and delay the onset of the monsoon, or perhaps from an interaction of both large-scale and regional forcing. Episodes of simultaneous interseasonal drought ("perfect" interseasonal drought) persisted for a decade or more during the 1950s drought of the instrumental era and during the eighth- and sixteenth-century droughts, which appear to have been two of the most profound droughts over the Southwest in the past 1400 yr. Simultaneous interseasonal drought is doubly detrimental to dry-land crop yields and is estimated to have occurred during the mid-seventeenth-century famines of colonial New Mexico but was less frequent during the late-thirteenth-century Great Drought among the Anasazi, which was most severe during the cool season.
Purpose Records of past temperature, precipitation, and other climate variables derived from paleoclimate proxies. Parameter keywords describe what was measured in this data set. Additional summary information can be found in the abstracts of papers listed in the data set citations.
Dataset Citation
  • Cite as: Stahle, D.W.; Cleaveland, M.K.; Grissino-Mayer, H.D.; Griffin, R.D.; Fye, F.K.; Therrell, M.D.; Burnette, D.J.; Meko, D.M.; Villanueva-Diaz, J. (2014-07-16): NOAA/WDS Paleoclimatology - El Malpais, New Mexico 2,139yr Cool and Warm Season Precipitation Reconstructions. [indicate subset used]. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. https://doi.org/10.25921/9z4f-1v16. Accessed [date].
  • Please cite original publication, online resource, dataset and publication DOIs (where available), and date accessed when using downloaded data. If there is no publication information, please cite investigator, title, online resource, and date accessed. The appearance of external links associated with a dataset does not constitute endorsement by the Department of Commerce/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of external Web sites or the information, products or services contained therein. For other than authorized activities, the Department of Commerce/NOAA does not exercise any editorial control over the information you may find at these locations. These links are provided consistent with the stated purpose of this Department of Commerce/NOAA Web site.
Cited Authors
  • Stahle, D.W.
  • Cleaveland, M.K.
  • Grissino-Mayer, H.D.
  • Griffin, R.D.
  • Fye, F.K.
  • Therrell, M.D.
  • Burnette, D.J.
  • Meko, D.M.
  • Villanueva-Diaz, J.
Originators
  • Stahle, D.W.
  • Cleaveland, M.K.
  • Grissino-Mayer, H.D.
  • Griffin, R.D.
  • Fye, F.K.
  • Therrell, M.D.
  • Burnette, D.J.
  • Meko, D.M.
  • Villanueva-Diaz, J.
Publishers
  • NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
Theme keywords Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Science Keywords
  • Earth Science > Climate Indicators > Paleoclimate Indicators > Paleoclimate Reconstructions
Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Science Keywords
  • earth science > paleoclimate > instrumental
  • earth science > paleoclimate > climate reconstructions|tree ring
  • earth science > paleoclimate > climate reconstructions|tree ring
  • earth science > paleoclimate > climate reconstructions|tree ring
  • earth science > paleoclimate > instrumental
  • earth science > paleoclimate > climate reconstructions|tree ring
  • earth science > paleoclimate > climate reconstructions|tree ring
  • earth science > paleoclimate > reconstructions > precipitation
  • Precipitation Reconstruction
  • precipitation
Paleoenvironmental Standard Terms (PaST) Thesaurus
  • What: precipitation; Material: null
  • What: precipitation; Material: ring width
  • What: age; Material: null
  • What: precipitation; Material: ring width
  • What: precipitation; Material: null
  • What: precipitation; Material: ring width
  • What: precipitation; Material: ring width
Data Center keywords Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Data Center Keywords
  • DOC/NOAA/NESDIS/NCEI > National Centers for Environmental Information, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce
Place keywords
  • Continent > North America > United States Of America > New Mexico > El Malpais update > LATITUDE 34.97 > LONGITUDE -108.18
Use Constraints
  • Cite as: Stahle, D.W.; Cleaveland, M.K.; Grissino-Mayer, H.D.; Griffin, R.D.; Fye, F.K.; Therrell, M.D.; Burnette, D.J.; Meko, D.M.; Villanueva-Diaz, J. (2014-07-16): NOAA/WDS Paleoclimatology - El Malpais, New Mexico 2,139yr Cool and Warm Season Precipitation Reconstructions. [indicate subset used]. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. https://doi.org/10.25921/9z4f-1v16. Accessed [date].
  • Use liability: NOAA and NCEI cannot provide any warranty as to the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of furnished data. Users assume responsibility to determine the usability of these data. The user is responsible for the results of any application of this data for other than its intended purpose.
  • Please cite original publication, online resource, dataset and publication DOIs (where available), and date accessed when using downloaded data. If there is no publication information, please cite investigator, title, online resource, and date accessed. The appearance of external links associated with a dataset does not constitute endorsement by the Department of Commerce/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of external Web sites or the information, products or services contained therein. For other than authorized activities, the Department of Commerce/NOAA does not exercise any editorial control over the information you may find at these locations. These links are provided consistent with the stated purpose of this Department of Commerce/NOAA Web site.
Access Constraints
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Last Modified: 2023-09-01
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