Abstract
Tree ring chronologies from different sites of hill forest in the western Himalaya of India have been carried out in relation to natural climate variability/change. The first principal component (PC1) prepared by using a multiple site tree ring-width chronologies of the western Himalaya is strongly negatively correlated with vapor pressure and positively with wet-day frequency. The correlation coefficients of PC1 with boreal spring season vapor pressure and wet-day frequency are − 0.61 and 0.42, respectively, indicating significant level at 0.1%. The relationship indicated that wet-day frequency and vapor pressure of the western Himalaya have significant role in modulating tree growth patterns during boreal spring season (March to May). The results indicate that increasing vapor pressure during boreal spring season may cause high transpiration and evaporation, which results in moisture stress condition over the region and has adverse impact on trees growth.
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Acknowledgements
The authors are extremely grateful to Prof. Ravi Nanjundiah, Director, Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune, and Dr. R. Krishnan, the executive director of CCCR, IITM, Pune, India, for encouragement and providing necessary facilities. The authors gratefully acknowledge Dr. H.P. Borgaonkar (IITM) for his kind help of tree ring data. Also, the authors are thankful to India Water Portal for making available climatic data on the Web site. The authors are also thankful to two anonymous reviewers for their useful suggestion and helpful comments to improve the manuscript.
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Ram, S., Singh, H.N., Yadav, R.K. et al. Tree rings-width study of western Himalaya and its linkage with boreal spring vapor pressure and wet-day frequency. J Indian Acad Wood Sci 16, 103–109 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13196-019-00243-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13196-019-00243-y