Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Comparison of drought signals in tree-ring width records of juniper trees from Central and West Asia during the last four centuries

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Arabian Journal of Geosciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Comparison of climate reconstruction from different regions helps in understanding large-scale climate change. Here we compiled moisture-sensitive tree-ring width chronologies from north Tajikistan (Central Asia) and southern Jordan (West Asia) and compared drought variations over the two regions for the last four centuries. Tree-ring width chronology of Juniperus turkestanica in north Tajikistan was found to be sensitive to mean August–July Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) variations. Tree-ring width chronology of Juniperus phoenicia in southern Jordan was correlated to October–May precipitation variations. Comparison of the two tree-ring width chronologies shows similar wet/dry periods, and regional dry conditions during ad 1600–1621, 1627–1635, 1683–1697, 1731–1735, 1758–1791, 1810–1812, 1843–1862, 1871–1875, 1926–1941, and 1963–1968. Wavelet coherence analysis indicates the existence of some decadal and inter-annual cycles in the two tree-ring width chronologies. This may suggest the influences of North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), and solar activity on the drought variations in Central and West Asia.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Akkemik Ü, Dağdeviren N, Aras A (2005) A preliminary reconstruction (A.D. 1635–2000) of spring precipitation using oak tree rings in the western Black Sea region of Turkey. Int J Biometeorol 49(5):297–302

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Akkemik Ü, D’Arrigo R, Cherubini P, Köse N, Jacoby GC (2008) Tree-ring reconstructions of precipitation and streamflow for north-western Turkey. Int J Climatol 28(2):173–183

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Allan RJ, Lindesay JA, Parker DE (1996) El Niño southern oscillation and climatic variability. CSIRO Publishing, Australia

    Google Scholar 

  • Arsalani M, Azizi G, Bräuning A (2014) Dendroclimatic reconstruction of May–June maximum temperatures in the central Zagros Mountains, western Iran. Int J Climatol, doi: 10.1002/joc.3988.

  • Azizi G, Arsalani M, Bräuning A, Moghimi E (2013) Precipitation variations in the central Zagros Mountains (Iran) since AD 1840 based on oak tree rings. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 386:96–103

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bensada A (1995) Cuppressacea of Dana Nature Reserve. Unpublished UNDP/World Bank Report-Gel Project for the Conservation Dana Wildlands, Amman, Jordan

    Google Scholar 

  • Briffa KR, Jones PD, Wigley TML, Pilcher JR, Baillie MGL (1986) Climate reconstruction from tree rings. Part 2. Spatial reconstruction of summer mean sea-level pressure patterns over Great Britain. J Climatol 6:1–15

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Büntgen U, Tegel W, Nicolussi K, McCormick M, Frank D, Trouet V, Kaplan JO, Herzig F, Heussner KU, Wanner H, Luterbacher J, Esper J (2011) 2500 years of European climate variability and human susceptibility. Science 331(6017):578–582

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen F, Yuan Y (2014) May–June maximum temperature reconstruction from mean earlywood density in north central China and its linkages to the summer monsoon activities. PLoS One 9(9), e107501

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen F, Yuan YJ, Wei WS, Yu SL, Fan ZA, Zhang RB, Shang HM (2012) Temperature reconstruction from tree-ring maximum latewood density of Qinghai spruce in middle Hexi Corridor, China. Theor Appl Climatol 107(3–4):633–643

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen F, Yuan YJ, Wei WS, Zhang TW, Shang HM, Zhang R (2014a) Precipitation reconstruction for the southern Altay Mountains (China) from tree rings of Siberian spruce, reveals recent wetting trend. Dendrochronologia 32(3):266–272

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen F, Yuan YJ, Chen FH, Yu SL, Shang HM, Zhang TW, Qin L (2014b) Reconstruction of spring temperature on the southern edge of the Gobi Desert, Asia, reveals recent climatic warming. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 409:145–152

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen F, Zhang R, Wang H, Qin L, Yuan Y (2015a) Updated precipitation reconstruction (AD 1482–2012) for Huashan, north-central China. Theor Appl Climatol, doi: 10.1007/s00704-015-1387-0

  • Chen F, Yuan YJ, Wei WS, Yu SL, Zhang TW, Shang HM, Fan ZA (2015b) Tree-ring recorded hydroclimatic change in Tienshan mountains during the past 500 years. Quatern Int 358:35–41

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cook ER, Kairiukstis LA (eds) (1990) Methods of dendrochronology. Kluwer Academic Publishers, The Netherlands, pp 1–239

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Cook ER, Woodhouse CA, Eakin CM, Meko DM, Stahle DW (2004) Long-term aridity changes in the western United States. Science 306:1015–1018

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dai A, Trenberth KE, Qian T (2004) A global dataset of Palmer Drought Severity Index for 1870–2002: relationship with soil moisture and effects of surface warming. J Hydrometeorol 5(6):1117–1130

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davi NK, Jacoby GC, D’Arrigo RD, Baatarbileg N, Li JB, Curtis AE (2009) A tree-ring-based drought index reconstruction for far-western Mongolia: 1565–2004. Int J Climatol 29:1508–1514

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davi NK, Pederson N, Leland C, Nachin B, Suran B, Jacoby GC (2013) Is eastern Mongolia drying? A long-term perspective of a multidecadal trend. Water Resour Res 49:151–158

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Esper J, Treydte K, Gärtner H, Neuwirth B (2001) A tree-ring reconstruction of climatic extreme years since AD 1427 for Western Central Asia. Palaeobotanist 50:141–152

    Google Scholar 

  • Esper J, Shiyatov SG, Mazepa VS, Wilson RJS, Graybill DA, Funkhouser G (2003) Temperature-sensitive Tien Shan tree-ring chronologies show multi-centennial growth trends. Clim Dyn 8:699–706

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Esper J, Frank D, Büntgen U, Verstege A, Luterbacher J, Xoplaki E (2007) Long-term drought severity variations in Morocco. Geophys Res Lett 34:L17702

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Farge M (1992) Wavelet transforms and their applications to turbulence. Annu Rev Fluid Mech, 24(1):395–458

  • Glueck MF, Stockton CW (2001) Reconstruction of the North Atlantic oscillation, 1429–1983. Int J Climatol 21(12):1453–1465

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gou X, Deng Y, Gao L, Chen F, Cook E, Yang M, Zhang F (2014). Millennium tree-ring reconstruction of drought variability in the eastern Qilian Mountains, northwest China. Clim Dyn, doi: 10.1007/s00382-014-2431-y

  • Goupillaud P, Grossmann A, Morlet J (1984) Cycle-octave and related transforms in seismic signal analysis. Geoexploration 23:85–102

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Griggs C, Pearson C, Manning SW, Lorentzen B (2014) A 250-year annual precipitation reconstruction and drought assessment for Cyprus from Pinus brutia Ten. Tree-rings. Int J Climatol 34(8):2702–2714

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grinsted A, Moore JC, Jevrejeva S (2004) Application of the cross wavelet transform and wavelet coherence to geophysical time series. Nonlinear Processes Geophys 11:561–566

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hale GE (1924) The law of sun-spot polarity. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 10(1):53–55

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heinrich I, Touchan R, Liñán ID, Vos H, Helle G (2013) Winter-to-spring temperature dynamics in Turkey derived from tree rings since AD 1125. Clim dyn 41(7–8):1685–1701

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holmes RL (1983) Computer-assisted quality control in tree-ring dating and measurement. Tree-Ring Bull 43:69–78

    Google Scholar 

  • Huang W, Feng S, Chen JH, Chen F (2015) Physical Mechanisms of summer precipitation variations in the Tarim Basin in Northwestern China. J Climate 28(9):3579–3591

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones PD, Briffa KR, Osborn TJ, Lough JM, van Ommen TD, Vinther BM, Luterbacher J, Wahl ER, Zwiers FW, Mann ME, Schmidt GA, Ammann CM, Buckley BM, Cobb KM, Esper J, Goosse H, Graham N, Jansen E, Kiefer T, Kull C, Kuttel M, Mosley-Thompson E, Overpeck JT, Riedwyl N, Schulz M, Tudhope AW, Villalba R, Wanner H, Wolff E, Xoplaki E (2009) High-resolution palaeoclimatology of the last millennium: a review of current status and future prospects. Holocene 19(1):3–49

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kalnay E, Kanarmitsu M, Kistler R, Collins W, Deaven D, Gandin L, Iredell M, Saha S, White G, Woollen J, Zhu Y, Chelliah M, Ebisuzaki W, Higgins W, Janowiak J, Mo KC, Ropelewski C, Wang J, Leetmaa A, Reynolds R, Jenne R, Joseph D (1996) The NCEP/NCAR reanalysis 40-year project. Bull Amer Meteor Soc 77(3):437–471

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Köse N, Akkemik Ü, Güner HT, Dalfes HN, Grissino-Mayer HD, Özeren MS, Kındap T (2013) An improved reconstruction of May–June precipitation using tree-ring data from western Turkey and its links to volcanic eruptions. Int J Biometeorol 57(5):691–701

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li J, Gou XH Cook ER, Chen FH (2006) Tree-ring based drought reconstruction for the central Tien Shan area in northwest China. Geophy Res Lett 33. doi:10.1029/2006GL025803

  • Liang E, Shao X, Liu H, Eckstein D (2007) Tree-ring based PDSI reconstruction since AD 1842 in the Ortindag Sand Land, east Inner Mongolia. Chin Sci Bull 52(19):2715–2721

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liang EY, Shao XM, Xu Y (2009) Tree-ring evidence of recent abnormal warming on the southeast Tibetan Plateau. Theor Appl Climatol 98(1–2):9–18

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liphschitz N, Waisel Y, Lev-Yadun S (1979) Dendrochronological investigations in Iran. Tree-Ring Bull 39:39–45

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu Y, Bao G, Song H, Cai Q, Sun J (2009) Precipitation reconstruction from Hailar pine (Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica) tree rings in the Hailar region, Inner Mongolia, China back to 1865 AD. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 282(1):81–87

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu Y, Tian H, Song H, Liang J (2010) Tree ring precipitation reconstruction in the Chifeng-Weichang region, China, and East Asian Summer Monsoon variation since AD 1777. J Geophys Res 115, D06103

    Google Scholar 

  • MacDonald G, Case R (2005) Variations in the Pacific Decadal Oscillation over the past millennium. Geophys Res Lett 32: L08703. doi:10.1029/2005GL022478.

  • Mariotti A (2007) How ENSO impacts precipitation in southwest central Asia. Geophy Res Lett 34. doi:10.1029/2007GL030078.

  • Mokhov II, Eliseev AV, Handorf D, Petoukhov VK, Dethloff K, Weisheimer A, Khorostyanov DV (2000) North Atlantic oscillation: diagnose and simulation of decadal variations and its long-period evolution. Izv Atmos Oceanic Phy 36(5):555–565

    Google Scholar 

  • Osborn TJ, Briffa KR, Jones PD (1997) Adjusting variance for sample-size in tree-ring chronologies and other regional mean timeseries. Dendrochronologia 15:89–99

    Google Scholar 

  • Parry M, Canziani O, Palutikof J, Van der Linden P, Hanson C (2007) IPCC 2007, climate change 2007: impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. In: Contribution of working group II to the fourth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, p 976

    Google Scholar 

  • Pederson N, Hessl AE, Baatarbileg N, Anchukaitis KJ, Di Cosmo N (2014) Pluvials, droughts, the Mongol Empire, and modern Mongolia. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 111(12):4375–4379

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shao XM, Xu Y, Yin ZY, Liang E, Zhu HF, Wang S (2010) Climatic implications of a 3585-year tree-ring width chronology from the northeastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Quat Sci Rev 29:2111–2122

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Solomon S, Qin D, Manning M, Chen Z, Marquis M, Averyt K, Tignor M, Miller H (eds) (2007) Climate change 2007: the physical science basis. Contribution of working group I to the fourth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Torrence C, Compo GP (1998) A practical guide to wavelet analysis. Bull Am Meteorol Soc 79:61–78

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Touchan R, Meko DM, Hughes MK (1999) A 396-year reconstruction of precipitation in Southern Jordan. J Am Water Resour As 35:45–55

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Touchan R, Meko DM, Aloui A (2008) Precipitation reconstruction for northwestern Tunisia from tree rings. J Arid Environ 72:1887–1896

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Touchan R, Anchukaitis KJ, Meko DM, Sabir M, Attalah S, Aloui A (2011) Spatiotemporal drought variability in northwestern Africa over the last nine centuries. Clim Dyn 37(1–2):237–252

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Trouet V, Esper J, Graham NE, Baker A, Scourse JD, Frank DC (2009) Persistent positive North Atlantic Oscillation mode dominated the medieval climate anomaly. Science 324(5923):78–80

  • Wigley TML, Briffa KR, Jones PD (1984) On the average vale of correlated time series with application in dendroclimatology and hydrometeorology. J Clim Appl Meteorol 23:201–213

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yang B, Qin C, Bräuning A, Burchardt I, Liu J (2011) Rainfall history for the Hexi Corridor in the arid northwest China during the past 620 years derived from tree rings. Int J Climatol 31:1166–1176

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yang B, Qin C, Wang J, He M, Melvin TM, Osborn TJ, Briffa KR (2014) A 3,500-year tree-ring record of annual precipitation on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 111:2903–2908

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yu S, Yuan Y, Wei W, Chen F, Zhang T, Shang H, Qing L (2013) A 352-year record of summer temperature reconstruction in the western Tianshan Mountains, China, as deduced from tree-ring density. Quaternary Res 80(2):158–166

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yuan Y, Jin L, Shao X, He Q, Li Z, Li J (2003) Variations of the spring precipitation day numbers reconstructed from tree rings in the Urumqi River drainage, Tianshan Mts. over the last 370 years. Chin Sci Bull 48(14):1507–1510

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang YC, Hou SG, Liu YP (2012) Preliminary study on the ENSO signal recorded by the δ18O series of ice core from Miaoergou flat-topped glacier, eastern Tianshan. Quatern Sci 32(1):59–66

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang TW, Yuan YJ, Liu Y, Wei WS, Zhang RB, Chen F, Qin L (2013) A tree-ring based temperature reconstruction for the Kaiduhe River watershed, northwestern China, since AD 1680: Linkages to the North Atlantic Oscillation. Quatern Int 311:71–80

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao Y, Huang AN, Zhou Y, Huang DQ, Yang Q, Ma YF, Li M, Wei G (2014) Impact of the middle and upper tropospheric cooling over central Asia on the summer rainfall in the Tarim Basin, China. J Climate 27:4721–4732

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhu HF, Shao XM, Yin ZY, Xu P, Xu Y, Tian H (2011) August temperature variability in the southeastern Tibetan Plateau since AD 1385 inferred from tree rings. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 305(1):84–92

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Special Foundation for Asian Regional Cooperation (Climate reconstruction of Tien Shan in China, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan), Climatic Change Special Fund of China Meteorological Administration (Reconstruction and variation analyses of historical climate in Tien Shan, Central Asia), NSFC Project (no. 41405081). The authors would like to thank Prof. Touchan for data support. We thank the reviewers very much whose comments greatly benefitted this manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Tree-Ring Physical and Chemical Research of China Meteorological Administration/Xinjiang Laboratory of Tree Ring Ecology, Institute of Desert Meteorology, China Meteorological Administration, 46 Jianguo Road, Urumqi, 830002, China

    Feng Chen, Shulong Yu, Qing He & Ruibo Zhang

  2. Institute of Water Problems, Hydroenergy and Ecology, Academy of Science of the Republic of Tajikistan, Dushanbe, 734063, Tajikistan

    Zainalobudin V. Kobuliev

  3. Institute of Geology, Earthquake Engineering and Seismology, Academy of Science of the Republic of Tajikistan, Dushanbe, 734063, Tajikistan

    Yunus M. Mamadjonov

Authors
  1. Feng Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Shulong Yu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Qing He
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Ruibo Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Zainalobudin V. Kobuliev
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Yunus M. Mamadjonov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Feng Chen.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Chen, F., Yu, S., He, Q. et al. Comparison of drought signals in tree-ring width records of juniper trees from Central and West Asia during the last four centuries. Arab J Geosci 9, 255 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-015-2253-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-015-2253-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation