Applying an Edit Distance to the Matching of Tree Ring Sequences in Dendrochronology [chapter]

Carola Wenk
1999 Lecture Notes in Computer Science  
In dendrochronology wood samples are dated according to the tree rings they contain. The dating process consists of comparing the sequence of tree ring widths in the sample to a dated master sequence. Assuming that a tree forms exactly one ring per year a simple sliding algorithm solves this matching task. But sometimes a tree produces no ring or even two rings in a year. If a sample sequence contains this kind of inconsistencies it cannot be dated correctly by the simple sliding algorithm. We
more » ... herefore introduce a O(α 2 mn + α 4 (m + n)) algorithm for dating such a sample sequence against an error-free master sequence, where n and m are the lengths of the sequences. Our algorithm takes into account that the sample might contain up to α missing or double rings and suggests possible positions for these kind of inconsistencies. This is done by employing an edit distance as the distance measure. ✩ Part of a research project supported by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, grant AL 253/4-2,3. ✩✩ Preliminary version of this article have appeared in [C. Wenk, Algorithmen für das Crossdating in der Dendrochronologie, Master's Thesis, Freie
doi:10.1007/3-540-48452-3_17 fatcat:xhtetdkisrffrnmizr7nzghamm