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

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Abstract

Long climate records are scarce on the Tibetan Plateau for understanding the climate variability on long-term context. Here we presented an early summer (May–June) temperature reconstruction since ad 1440 for Qamdo area using tree rings of Sabina tibetica. The reconstruction accounted for 64% of the variance in the instrumental record. It showed warm periods during 1501–1514, 1528–1538, 1598–1609, 1624–1636, 1650–1668, 1695–1705, 1752–1762, 1794–1804, 1878–1890, 1909–1921, 1938–1949, and 1979–1991. Cool early summer occurred during 1440–1454, 1482–1500, 1515–1527, 1576–1597, 1610–1621, 1669–1679, 1706–1716, 1782–1793, 1863–1873, 1894–1908, and 1922–1937. Comparison with other proxy or meteorological records suggested that there is obvious spatial variability in the May–June temperature variations along the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau.

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Acknowledgments

This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (40801033 and 40871097) and the Knowledge Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. KZCX2-YW-Q1-01 KZCX2-YW-QN111). We thank Prof. Xiaohua Gou for providing their reconstructed data for comparison in this study. Thanks were also given to the two anonymous referees and Editor Prof. Dr. Hartmut Graßl for their helpful and constructive suggestions and comments on the MS.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Tibetan Environment Changes and Land Surface Processes, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100085, China

    Hai-Feng Zhu

  2. Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China

    Hai-Feng Zhu & Xue-Mei Shao

  3. Department of Marine Science and Environmental Studies, University of San Diego, San Diego, CA, 92110, USA

    Zhi-Yong Yin

  4. National Climate Center, Beijing, 100081, China

    Lei Huang

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  1. Hai-Feng Zhu
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  2. Xue-Mei Shao
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  3. Zhi-Yong Yin
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  4. Lei Huang
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Correspondence to Hai-Feng Zhu.

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Zhu, HF., Shao, XM., Yin, ZY. et al. Early summer temperature reconstruction in the eastern Tibetan plateau since ad 1440 using tree-ring width of Sabina tibetica . Theor Appl Climatol 106, 45–53 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-011-0419-7

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