scholarly journals Tree-ring-based spring precipitation reconstruction in the Sikhote-Alin' Mountain range

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 951-967
Author(s):  
Olga Ukhvatkina ◽  
Alexander Omelko ◽  
Dmitriy Kislov ◽  
Alexander Zhmerenetsky ◽  
Tatyana Epifanova ◽  
...  

Abstract. Climate reconstructions provide important insight into past climate variability and help us to understand the large-scale climate drivers and impact of climate change. However, our knowledge about long-term year-to-year climate variability is still limited due to the lack of high-resolution reconstructions. Here, we present the first precipitation reconstructions based on tree rings from Pinus koraiensis (Korean pine) from three sites placed along a latitudinal (330 km) gradient in the Sikhote-Alin' mountains in the Russian Far East. The tree-ring width chronologies were built using standard tree-ring procedures. We reconstructed the April–June precipitation for the southern Sikhote-Alin' (SSA), March–June precipitation for the central Sikhote-Alin' (CSA) and March–July precipitation for the northwestern Sikhote-Alin' (NSA) over the years 1602 to 2013, 1804 to 2009 and 1858 to 2013, respectively. We found that an important limiting factor for Korean pine growth was precipitation within the period when the air current coming from the continent during the cold period is replaced with the impact of the wet ocean air current. We identified that common wet years for SSA, CSA and NSA occurred in 1805, 1853, 1877, 1903, 1906, 1927, 1983 and 2009 and common dry years occurred in 1821, 1869, 1919, 1949 and 2003. Our reconstructions have 3-, 15- and 60-year periods, which suggests the influence of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation and Pacific Decadal Oscillation on the region's climate and relevant processes. Despite the impact of various global processes, the main contribution to precipitation formation in the study area is still made by the Pacific Ocean, which determines their amount and periodicity.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olga Ukhvatkina ◽  
Alexander Omelko ◽  
Dmitriy Kislov ◽  
Alexander Zhmerenetsky ◽  
Tatyana Epifanova ◽  
...  

Abstract. Here, we present precipitation reconstructions based on tree rings from Pinus koraiensis (Korean pine) from three sites placed along latitudinal (330 km) gradient in Sikhote-Alin mountains, Russian Far East. The tree-ring width chronologies were built using standard tree-ring procedures. We reconstructed the April–June precipitation for the southern Sikhote-Alin (SSA), March–June precipitation for the central Sikhote-Alin (CSA) and March–July precipitation for the northwestern Sikhote-Alin (NSA) over the 1609 to 2013, 1804 to 2009 and 1858 to 2013, respectively. We found that an important limiting factor for Korean pine growth was precipitation within the period when the air current coming from the continent during the cold period is replaced with the impact of the wet ocean air current. We identified common wet years for SSA, CSA and NSA occurred in 1805, 1853, 1877, 1903, 1906, 1927, 1983, 2009 and common dry years occurred in 1821, 1869, 1919, 1949 and 2003. Our reconstructions have 3, 15 and 60 year periods and corresponds to influence of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation and Pacific Decadal Oscillation on the region's climate and relevant processes, respectively. Despite the impact of various global processes, the main contribution to precipitation formation in study area is still made by the Pacific Ocean, which determines their amount and periodicity.


Forests ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 1017
Author(s):  
Anna S. Vozmishcheva ◽  
Svetlana N. Bondarchuk ◽  
Mikhail N. Gromyko ◽  
Dmitriy E. Kislov ◽  
Elena A. Pimenova ◽  
...  

Tropical cyclones (hurricanes and typhoons) cause large-scale disturbances in forest ecosystems all over the world. In the summer of 2016, a strong tropical cyclone named Lionrock created windthrow patches in the area of more than 400 km2 on the forested eastern slopes of the Sikhote-Alin Range, in the Russian Far East. Such large-scale forest destruction by wind had never been recorded in the area prior to this event. We examined the tropical cyclone impact upon the forest composition, structure and tree mortality rates on two study sites (1 ha and 0.5 ha in size)—a contiguous windthrow patch site, and a site with partial canopy damage. Korean pine (Pinus koraiensis Siebold and Zucc.), Manchurian fir (Abies nephrolepis Trautv.) and Dahurian larch (Larix cajanderi Mayr.) were the primary tree species represented in the affected forest communities. Combined with the partial canopy damage, 7.7% of trees were blown down by the disturbance event. We determined that this one event mortality rate nearly equaled the average mortality rate for a ten year period for these forests (8.5 ± 4.0%) under normal conditions (no large-scale disturbances). Within a contiguous windthrow patch, tree mortality was determined to be 52.6%, which is significantly higher than the cumulative tree loss for the previous 50 years (42.4%). A substantial portion of thinner-stemmed trees (DBH (diameter measured at breast height) < 30 cm) were wind snapped, and those with larger diameters (DBH > 60 cm) were uprooted. Our results indicate that the probability of tree loss due to catastrophic wind loads increases as a result of the decrease in local density. We believe that tree loss estimates should include the impacts within contiguous patches of windthrows, as well as the patches with only partial tree canopy damage. Strong wind impact forecasting is possible with accounting for species composition within the stand sites and their spatial structure.


2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olga N. Ukhvatkina ◽  
Alexander M. Omelko ◽  
Alexander A. Zhmerenetsky ◽  
Tatyana Y. Petrenko

Abstract. The aim of our research was to reconstruct climatic parameters (for the first time for the Sikhote-Alin mountain range) and to compare them with global climate fluctuations. As a result, we have found that one of the most important limiting factors for the study area is the minimum temperatures of the previous autumn–winter season (August–December), and this finding perfectly conforms to that in other territories. We reconstructed the previous August–December minimum temperature for 485 years, from 1529 to 2014. We found 12 cold periods (1535–1540, 1550–1555, 1643–1649, 1659–1667, 1675–1689, 1722–1735, 1791–1803, 1807–1818, 1822–1827, 1836–1852, 1868–1887, 1911–1925) and seven warm periods (1560–1585, 1600–1610, 1614–1618, 1738–1743, 1756–1759, 1776–1781, 1944–2014). These periods correlate well with reconstructed data for the Northern Hemisphere and the neighboring territories of China and Japan. Our reconstruction has 3-, 9-, 20-, and 200-year periods, which may be in line with high-frequency fluctuations in El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the short-term solar cycle, Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) fluctuations, and the 200-year solar activity cycle, respectively. We suppose that the temperature of the North Pacific, expressed by the PDO may make a major contribution to regional climate variations. We also assume that the regional climatic response to solar activity becomes apparent in the temperature changes in the northern part of Pacific Ocean and corresponds to cold periods during the solar minimum. These comparisons show that our climatic reconstruction based on tree ring chronology for this area may potentially provide a proxy record for long-term, large-scale past temperature patterns for northeastern Asia. The reconstruction reflects the global traits and local variations in the climatic processes of the southern territory of the Russian Far East for more than the past 450 years.


2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 783-798
Author(s):  
Sarir Ahmad ◽  
Liangjun Zhu ◽  
Sumaira Yasmeen ◽  
Yuandong Zhang ◽  
Zongshan Li ◽  
...  

Abstract. The rate of global warming has led to persistent drought. It is considered to be the preliminary factor affecting socioeconomic development under the background of the dynamic forecasting of the water supply and forest ecosystems in West Asia. However, long-term climate records in the semiarid Hindu Kush range are seriously lacking. Therefore, we developed a new tree-ring width chronology of Cedrus deodara spanning the period of 1537–2017. We reconstructed the March–August Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) for the past 424 years, going back to 1593 CE. Our reconstruction featured nine dry periods (1593–1598, 1602–1608, 1631–1645, 1647–1660, 1756–1765, 1785–1800, 1870–1878, 1917–1923, and 1981–1995) and eight wet periods (1663–1675, 1687–1708, 1771–1773, 1806–1814, 1844–1852, 1932–1935, 1965–1969, and 1990–1999). This reconstruction is consistent with other dendroclimatic reconstructions in West Asia, thereby confirming its reliability. The multi-taper method and wavelet analysis revealed drought variability at periodicities of 2.1–2.4, 3.3, 6.0, 16.8, and 34.0–38.0 years. The drought patterns could be linked to the large-scale atmospheric–oceanic variability, such as the El Niño–Southern Oscillation, Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation, and solar activity. In terms of current climate conditions, our findings have important implications for developing drought-resistant policies in communities on the fringes of the Hindu Kush mountain range in northern Pakistan.


2017 ◽  
Vol 60 (6) ◽  
pp. 2137-2148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vaishali Sharda ◽  
Cameron Handyside ◽  
Bernardo Chaves ◽  
Richard T. McNider ◽  
Gerrit Hoogenboom

Abstract. The study of climate variability and its impacts on crop production has become a continuous effort for the scientific community over the past two decades. However, the impact of spatial soil variability along with climatic factors on crop yield remains uncertain. The objective of this study was to determine the impact of soil and climatic variability on maize yield. We used Alabama as a case study because the agriculture is predominantly rainfed and there is a large variability in growing season precipitation due to the influence of climate variability signals such as the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO). The cropping system model CERES-Maize of the Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT) was used to simulate growth, development, and grain yield for maize for the top ten maize-producing counties in Alabama under rainfed conditions during dry and wet ENSO years. Maize yield simulations were compared for one prominent agricultural soil in each county, the top three prominent agricultural soils in each county, and spatially distributed SSURGO soils in each county. Simulated yields were then compared with maize yields reported by the National Agricultural Statistical Services (NASS). The simulation results showed that maize yield was impacted by both climate variability and spatial soil variability. Statistical relationships were established between crop yield, yield changes, and soil properties. This simulation study established the clear importance of soil variability in crop-climate impact studies. Keywords: Crop Modeling, DSSAT, Database, Soil properties, Spatial variability.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (17) ◽  
pp. 7023 ◽  
Author(s):  
Netrananda Sahu ◽  
Atul Saini ◽  
Swadhin Behera ◽  
Takahiro Sayama ◽  
Sridhara Nayak ◽  
...  

The impact of Indo-Pacific climate variability in the South Asian region is very pronounced and their impact on agriculture is very important for the Indian subcontinent. In this study, rice productivity, climatic factors (Rainfall, Temperature and Soil Moisture) and associated major Indo-Pacific climate indices in Bihar were investigated. Bihar is one of the major rice-producing states of India and the role of climate variability and prevailing climate indices in six events (between 1991–2014) with severer than −10% rice productivity are analyzed. The Five-year moving average, Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation, Partial Correlation, Linear Regression Model, Mann Kendall Test, Sen’s Slope and some other important statistical techniques were used to understand the association between climatic variables and rice productivity. Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation provided an overview of the significant correlation between climate indices and rice productivity. Whereas, Partial Correlation provided the most refined results on it and among all the climate indices, Niño 3, Ocean Niño Index and Southern Oscillation Index are found highly associated with years having severer than −10% decline in rice productivity. Rainfall, temperature and soil moisture anomalies are analyzed to observe the importance of climate factors in rice productivity. Along with the lack of rainfall, lack of soil moisture and persistent above normal temperature (especially maximum temperature) are found to be the important factors in cases of severe loss in rice productivity. Observation of the dynamics of ocean-atmosphere coupling through the composite map shows the Pacific warming signals during the event years. The analysis revealed a negative (positive) correlation of rice productivity with the Niño 3 and Ocean Niño Index (Southern Oscillation Index).


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