A simple rubric for Stratigraphic Fidelity (β) of paleoenvironmental time series

The Pliocene, specifically the late Pliocene, has been a focus of paleoclimate research formore than 25 years. Synoptic regional
and global reconstructions along with high-resolution time-series have produced nuanced conceptual models of paleoenvironmental
conditions and enhanced our understanding of climate variability and climate sensitivity from the Late Pliocene, the most
recent interval of global warmth similar to what is projected for the end of the 21st century. These data are used as a source of boundary
conditions for climate models as well as ameans of verification of global climate model experiments. In this note, we introduce a measure
of stratigraphic fidelity, ß, used to characterize the chronology and achievable resolution of an ever-growing library of Pliocene
paleoenvironmental time-series. The ß index serves as an aid to end-users by allowing selection of time-series that meet the stratigraphic
requirements of a particular study.