Abstract
As a consequence of recent global warming and its social impact, regional climate change is attracting an increasing amount of attention from scientists. A May–July temperature proxy extending back to 1836 was developed from tree-ring width of Chinese pine (Pinus tabulaeformis Carr.) found in the middle Lüliang Mountains, northern China. Correlations with climatic data from six nearby meteorological stations range from −0.58 to −0.65, indicating a strong response of tree-ring index to May–July mean temperatures, which were subsequently reconstructed. The reconstruction captures 45% (F=38.474, P<0.001) of the regional variance in the instrumental data over the calibration period 1955–2003. Reconstructed warm and cold periods were verified by additional temperature reconstructions based on tree-ring data from northern China. In addition, the reconstruction was significantly correlated with May–July mean temperatures from 13 other meteorological stations in northern China, suggesting that our reconstruction is also representative of north-central China. The warming trend during the second half of the 20th century is seen in the reconstruction, but only the 1994–2002 mean temperature seems unprecedented over the whole reconstructed period.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
IPCC. IPCC Fourth Assessment Report (AR4). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007
Briffa K R, Schweingruber F H, Jones P D, et al. Reduced sensitivity of recent tree growth to temperature at high northern latitudes. Nature, 1998, 391:678–682
Esper J, Cook E R, Schweingruber F H. Low frequency signals in long tree-ring chronologies for reconstructing past temperature variability. Science, 2002, 295:2250–2253
McCarroll D, Loader N J. Stable isotopes in tree rings. Quat Sci Rev, 2004, 23:771–801
Treydte K S, Schleser G H, Helle G, et al. The twentieth century was the wettest period in northern Pakistan over the past millennium. Nature, 2006, l440:1179–1182
Liu Y, An Z S, Linderholm H W, et al. Annual temperatures during the last 2485 years in the mid-eastern Tibetan Plateau inferred from tree rings. Sci China Ser D-Earth Sci, 2009, 52:348–359
Shao X M, Huang L, Liu H B, et al. Reconstruction of precipitation variation from tree rings in recent 1000 years in Delingha, Qinghai. Sci China Ser D-Earth Sci, 2004, 48:939–949
Zhang Q B, Cheng G D, Yao T D, et al. A 2326-year tree-ring record of climate variability on the northeastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Geophys Res Lett, 2003, 30:1739–1742
Liu Y, Cai Q F, Shi J F, et al. Seasonal precipitation in the south-central Helan Mountain region, China, reconstructed from tree-ring width for the past 224 years. Can J For Res, 2005, 35:2403–2412
Liu Y, Sun J Y, Yang Y K, et al. Tree-ring precipitation records from Inner Mongolia, china, and the East Asian summer monsoon front variation since 1627 AD. Tree-ring Res, 2007, 63:3–14
Liu Y, Linderholm H W, Song H M, et al. Temperature variations recorded in Pinus tabulaeformis tree rings from the southern and northern slopes of the central Qinling Mountains, central China. Boreas, 2006, 38:285–291
Cai Q F, Liu Y. January to August temperature variability since 1776 inferred from tree-ring width of Pinus tabulaeformis in Helan Mountain. J Geogr Sci, 2007, 17:293–303
Cai Q F, Liu Y, Song H M, et al. Tree-ring-based reconstruction of the April to September mean temperature since 1826 AD for north-central Shaanxi Province, China. Sci China Ser D-Earth Sci, 2008, 51:1099–1106
Hou Y, Wang N A, Li G, et al. Reconstruction of summer average temperature from tree-ring proxy data during 1751–2005 in Mt. Kongtong (in Chinese). Adv Clim Change Res, 2007, 3:172–176
Liang E Y, Shao X M, Liu H Y, et al. Tree-ring based PDSI reconstruction since AD 1842 in the Ortinday sand land, east Inner Mongolia. Chinese Sci Bull, 2007, 52:2715–2721
Liu Y, Park W K, Cai Q F, et al. Monsoonal precipitation variation in the East Asia since AD 1840: Tree-ring evidences from China and Korea. Sci China Ser D-Earth Sci, 2003, 46:1031–1039
Li Q, Liu Y, Cai Q F, et al. Reconstruction of annual precipitation since 1686AD from Ningwu region, Shanxi Province (in Chinese). Quat Sci, 2006, 26:999–1006
Yi L, Liu Y, Song H M, et al. Summer temperature variation since 1676 AD in Luya Mountain, Shanxi Province of China, inferred from tree rings (in Chinese). J Glaciol Geocryo, 2006, 28:330–336
Stokes M A, Smiley T L. An Introduction to Tree-ring Dating. Arizona, Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 1996
Holmes R L. Computer-assisted quality control in tree-ring dating and measurement. Tree-ring Bull, 1983, 43:69–78
Cook E R. A time-series analysis approach to tree-ring standardizetion. Ph.D. thesis. USA, Tucson: University of Arizona, 1985
Wigley T M L, Briffa K R, Jones P D. On the average value of correlated time series, with applications in dendroclimatology and hydrometeorology. J Clim Appl Meteorol, 1984, 23:201–213
Dai A G, Trenberth K E, Qian T T. A global dataset of Palmer Drought Severity Index for 1870–2002: Relationship with soil moisture and effects of surface warming. J Hydrometeorol, 2004, 5:1117–1130
Gao S Y, Lu R J, Qiang M R, et al. Reconstruction of precipitation in the last 140 years from tree ring at south margin of the Tengger Desert, China. Chinese Sci Bull, 2005, 50:2487–2492
Liu Y, Liu N, Song H M, et al. Reconstruction of mean temperature form January to July at the watershed region in the mid-Qinling Mountains (in Chinese). Adv Clim Change Res, 2009, 5:260–265
Liu H B, Shao X M. Reconstruction of early-spring temperature of Qinling Mountains using tree-ring chronologies (in Chinese). J Geogr Sci, 2003, 58:879–884
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
About this article
Cite this article
Cai, Q., Liu, Y., Bao, G. et al. Tree-ring-based May–July mean temperature history for Lüliang Mountains, China, since 1836. Chin. Sci. Bull. 55, 3008–3014 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-010-3235-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-010-3235-z