ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

International Tree-Ring Data Bank

Do you know what tree rings are? When you look at the stump of a tree, you can see rings inside it. Each ring shows how old the tree is for every year it's been alive. Just like you have a birthday every year, the tree grows a new ring each year.

Now imagine if we could collect these rings from trees all around the world! That's exactly what the International Tree-Ring Data Bank does. Scientists from all over the globe send in tree-ring samples to this bank.

Why do they do this? Well, tree rings are like calendars. They can tell us when there were droughts, when it rained a lot, and even when volcanic eruptions happened. By studying these rings, scientists can learn about the history of a place, like a timeline.

Now, the data bank puts all of these tree rings together, creating a big library of tree-ring records from around the world. This helps researchers compare and analyze these records to learn even more about our planet's history.

So, basically, the International Tree-Ring Data Bank is like a giant library of tree-ring records from around the world, where scientists can go to learn about our planet's history. It's like having a huge trunk of knowledge and information to understand the past better.