Pacific Decadal Oscillation Reconstruction: Readme File
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              World Data Center for Paleoclimatology, Boulder
                                and 
                   NOAA Paleoclimatology Program
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NOTE: PLEASE CITE ORIGINAL REFERENCES WHEN USING THIS DATA!!!!!

CONTRIBUTOR: Franco Biondi, University of Nevada.
NAME OF DATA SET: Pacific Decadal Oscillation Reconstruction

IGBP PAGES/WDCA CONTRIBUTION SERIES NUMBER: 2001-001.

SUGGESTED DATA CITATION: Biondi, F. et al., 2001, 
Pacific Decadal Oscillation Reconstruction.  
International Tree-Ring Data Bank.  
IGBP PAGES/World Data Center for Paleoclimatology 
Data Contribution Series #2001-001.  
NOAA/NGDC Paleoclimatology Program, Boulder CO, USA.

ORIGINAL REFERENCE: Biondi, F., A. Gershunov, and D.R. Cayan, 2001, 
North Pacific decadal climate variability since AD 1661,
Journal of Climate, Volume 14, Number 1, January 2001.  

LAST UPDATE:  1/2001 (Original receipt by WDC-A Paleo)
GEOGRAPHIC REGION: Pacific Ocean 
PERIOD OF RECORD:  1661-1991 AD

LIST OF FILES: Readme_pdo.txt (this file), pdo.txt.

DESCRIPTION:
Pacific Decadal Oscillation Reconstruction based on 
tree ring chronologies.  The tree ring data is also 
archived at the World Data Center for Paleoclimatology, 
International Tree Ring Data Bank.  Please see web page at:
http://meridian.ngdc.noaa.gov/paleo/pubs/biondi2001/
for more information.  

Climate in the North Pacific and North American sectors has 
experienced interdecadal shifts during the 20th century. 
A network of recently developed tree-ring chronologies for 
Southern and Baja California extends the instrumental record, 
and reveals decadal-scale variability back to AD 1661. 
The Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) is closely matched 
by the dominant mode of tree-ring variability, which provides 
a preliminary view of multi-annual climate fluctuations spanning 
the past four centuries. The reconstructed PDO index features a 
prominent bidecadal oscillation, whose amplitude weakened 
in the late 1700s to mid-1800s. A comparison with proxy records 
of ENSO suggests that the greatest decadal-scale oscillations 
in Pacific climate between 1706 and 1977 occurred around 
1750, 1905, and 1947.