Sunshine duration reconstruction in the southeastern Tibetan Plateau based on tree-ring width and its relationship to volcanic eruptions

Abstract. Trees record climatic conditions during their growth, and tree rings serve as proxy to reveal the features of the historical climate of a region. In this study, we collected tree-ring cores of hemlock forest (Tsuga forrestii) from the northwestern Yunnan area of the southeastern Tibetan Plateau (SETP) and created a residual tree-ring width (TRW) chronology. An analysis of the relationship between tree growth and climate revealed that precipitation during the non-growing season (NGS) (from November of the previous year to February of the current year) was the most important constraining factor on the radial tree growth of hemlock forests in this region. In addition, the influence of NGS precipitation on radial tree growth was relatively uniform over time (1956–2005). Accordingly, we reconstructed the NGS precipitation over the period spanning from 1600–2005. The reconstruction accounted for 28.5 % of the actual variance during the common period of 1956–2005. Based on the reconstruction, NGS was extremely dry during the years 1656, 1694, 1703, 1736, 1897, 1907, 1943, 1982 and 1999. In contrast, the NGS was extremely wet during the years 1627, 1638, 1654, 1832, 1834–1835 and 1992. Similar variations of the NGS precipitation reconstruction series and Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) reconstructions of early growing season from surrounding regions indicated the reliability of the present reconstruction. A comparison of the reconstruction with Climate Research Unit (CRU) gridded data revealed that our reconstruction was representative of the NGS precipitation variability of a large region in the SETP. Our study provides the first historical NGS precipitation reconstruction in the SETP which enriches the understanding of the long-term climate variability of this region. The NGS precipitation showed slightly increasing trend during the last decade which might accelerate regional hemlock forest growth.

Download Full-text

Early summer temperature reconstruction in the eastern Tibetan plateau since ad 1440 using tree-ring width of Sabina tibetica

Theoretical and Applied Climatology ◽

10.1007/s00704-011-0419-7 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 106 (1-2) ◽

pp. 45-53 ◽

Cited By ~ 32

Author(s):

Hai-Feng Zhu ◽

Xue-Mei Shao ◽

Zhi-Yong Yin ◽

Lei Huang

Keyword(s):

Tibetan Plateau ◽

Tree Ring ◽

Ring Width ◽

Temperature Reconstruction ◽

Early Summer ◽

Summer Temperature ◽

Tree Ring Width ◽

Eastern Tibetan Plateau ◽

Summer Temperature Reconstruction

Download Full-text

A 3585-YEAR RING-WIDTH DATING CHRONOLOGY OF QILIAN JUNIPER FROM THE NORTHEASTERN QINGHAI-TIBETAN PLATEAU

IAWA Journal ◽

10.1163/22941932-90000226 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 30 (4) ◽

pp. 379-394 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

Xuemei Shao ◽

Shuzhi Wang ◽

Haifeng Zhu ◽

Yan Xu ◽

Eryuan Liang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Tibetan Plateau ◽

Tree Ring ◽

Tree Species ◽

Qaidam Basin ◽

Ring Width ◽

Northwestern China ◽

Tree Ring Width ◽

Living Tree ◽

Qilian Juniper

This article documents the development of a precisely dated and wellreplicated long regional tree-ring width dating chronology for Qilian juniper (Juniperus przewalskii Kom.) from the northeastern Qinghai- Tibetan Plateau. It involves specimens from 22 archeological sites, 24 living tree sites, and 5 standing snags sites in the eastern and northeastern Qaidam Basin, northwestern China. The specimens were cross-dated successfully among different groups of samples and among different sites. Based on a total of 1438 series from 713 trees, the chronology covers 3585 years and is the longest chronology by far in China. Comparisons with chronologies of the same tree species about 200 km apart suggest that this chronology can serve for dating purposes in a region larger than the study area. This study demonstrates the great potential of Qilian juniper for dendrochronological research.

Download Full-text

Siberian tree-ring and stable isotope proxies as indicators of temperature and moisture changes after major stratospheric volcanic eruptions

Climate of the Past ◽

10.5194/cp-15-685-2019 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 15 (2) ◽

pp. 685-700 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Olga V. Churakova (Sidorova) ◽

Marina V. Fonti ◽

Matthias Saurer ◽

Sébastien Guillet ◽

Christophe Corona ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Tree Ring ◽

Global Climate ◽

Sunshine Duration ◽

Ring Width ◽

Volcanic Eruptions ◽

Climate Dynamics ◽

Global Climate Models ◽

Added Value ◽

Latewood Density ◽

The Impact

Abstract. Stratospheric volcanic eruptions have far-reaching impacts on global climate and society. Tree rings can provide valuable climatic information on these impacts across different spatial and temporal scales. To detect temperature and hydroclimatic changes after strong stratospheric Common Era (CE) volcanic eruptions for the last 1500 years (535 CE unknown, 540 CE unknown, 1257 CE Samalas, 1640 CE Parker, 1815 CE Tambora, and 1991 CE Pinatubo), we measured and analyzed tree-ring width (TRW), maximum latewood density (MXD), cell wall thickness (CWT), and δ13C and δ18O in tree-ring cellulose chronologies of climate-sensitive larch trees from three different Siberian regions (northeastern Yakutia – YAK, eastern Taimyr – TAY, and Russian Altai – ALT). All tree-ring proxies proved to encode a significant and specific climatic signal of the growing season. Our findings suggest that TRW, MXD, and CWT show strong negative summer air temperature anomalies in 536, 541–542, and 1258–1259 at all studied regions. Based on δ13C, 536 was extremely humid at YAK, as was 537–538 in TAY. No extreme hydroclimatic anomalies occurred in Siberia after the volcanic eruptions in 1640, 1815, and 1991, except for 1817 at ALT. The signal stored in δ18O indicated significantly lower summer sunshine duration in 542 and 1258–1259 at YAK and 536 at ALT. Our results show that trees growing at YAK and ALT mainly responded the first year after the eruptions, whereas at TAY, the growth response occurred after 2 years. The fact that differences exist in climate responses to volcanic eruptions – both in space and time – underlines the added value of a multiple tree-ring proxy assessment. As such, the various indicators used clearly help to provide a more realistic picture of the impact of volcanic eruption on past climate dynamics, which is fundamental for an improved understanding of climate dynamics, but also for the validation of global climate models.

Download Full-text

Millennial temperature variations derived from tree-ring width chronologies at the upper treeline of the Qilian Mountains, the Tibetan Plateau

Quaternary International ◽

10.1016/j.quaint.2012.08.2074 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 279-280 ◽

pp. 559 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Yong Zhang

Keyword(s):

Tibetan Plateau ◽

Tree Ring ◽

Ring Width ◽

Qilian Mountains ◽

The Tibetan Plateau ◽

Tree Ring Width ◽

Temperature Variations ◽

The Qilian Mountains

Download Full-text

Climate Change Detection and Attribution using observed and simulated Tree-Ring Width

10.5194/cp-2021-80 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Jörg Franke ◽

Michael Neil Evans ◽

Andrew Schurer ◽

Gabriele Clarissa Hegerl

Keyword(s):

Tree Ring ◽

Radiative Forcing ◽

Ring Width ◽

Volcanic Eruptions ◽

Temperature Sensitive ◽

Tree Ring Width ◽

Spatially Resolved ◽

Detection And Attribution ◽

Climate Simulations ◽

First Time

Abstract. The detection and attribution (D&A) of paleoclimatic change to external radiative forcing relies on regression of statistical reconstructions on simulations. However, this procedure may be biased by assumptions of stationarity and univariate linear response of the underlying paleoclimatic observations. Here we perform a D&A study via regression of tree ring width (TRW) observations on TRW simulations which are forward modeled from climate simulations. Temperature and moisture-sensitive TRW simulations show distinct patterns in time and space. Temperature-sensitive TRW observations and simulations are significantly correlated for northern hemisphere averages, and their variation is attributed most closely to volcanically forced simulations. In decadally smoothed temporal fingerprints, we find the observed responses to be significantly larger and/or more persistent than the simulated responses. The pattern of simulated TRW of moisture-limited trees is consistent with the observed anomalies in the two years following major volcanic eruptions. We can for the first time attribute this spatiotemporal fingerprint in moisture limited tree-ring records to volcanic forcing. These results suggest that use of nonlinear and multivariate proxy system models in paleoclimatic detection and attribution studies may permit more realistic, spatially resolved and multivariate fingerprint detection studies, and evaluation of the climate sensitivity to external radiative forcing, than has previously been possible.

Download Full-text

Tree-ring derived millennial precipitation record for the south-central Tibetan Plateau and its possible driving mechanism

The Holocene ◽

10.1177/0959683612450198 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 23 (1) ◽

pp. 36-45 ◽

Cited By ~ 30

Author(s):

Minhui He ◽

Bao Yang ◽

Achim Bräuning ◽

Jianglin Wang ◽

Zhangyong Wang

Keyword(s):

Tibetan Plateau ◽

Tree Ring ◽

Rainfall Variability ◽

Ring Width ◽

Driving Mechanism ◽

Tree Ring Width ◽

The South ◽

South Central ◽

Central Tibetan Plateau ◽

Precipitation Record

Knowledge of Asian monsoon variability remains limited because of sparse instrumental data available only for short time series. Here, an updated tree-ring width record covering the period ad 1037–2009 was developed for the south-central Tibetan Plateau (TP). Correlation analysis revealed a significant relationship ( r = 0.71) between the tree-ring index and annual (previous July to current June) precipitation series for the instrumental period 1963–2008, which accounts for 50.41% of the rainfall variability. Based on a linear regression model, the longest available regional precipitation history was reconstructed. Spatial correlation between tree ring width and annual precipitation data from previous July to current June indicates that the reconstruction is representative of precipitation changes on the south-central TP. Regional wet conditions occurred during ad 1095–1161, 1376–1403, 1414–1446, 1518–1537, 1549–1572, 1702–1757, 1848–1878 and 1891–1913, while dry periods were identified during ad1189–1242, 1256–1314, 1329–1357, 1470–1491, 1573–1623, 1636–1686, 1761–1821, 1823–1847, 1879–1890 and 1931–1985. The negative correlation between our reconstructed precipitation and India monsoon rainfall series indicates the seesaw pattern over northern and southern monsoon Asia. It is suggested that solar radiation-induced sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies over the tropical Pacific influence regional rainfall patterns. The degree of this influence has been stable at the multidecadal scale during the past 1000 years.

Download Full-text