Spring temperatures in the far-western Nepal Himalaya since AD 1640 reconstructed from Picea smithiana tree-ring widths

Thapa, Uday Kunwar; Shah, Sameena; Gaire, Narayan Prasad; Bhuju, Dinesh Raj

doi:10.1007/s00382-014-2457-1

Cited by 64 publications

(54 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…This is supported by previous studies from the Himalayas and surrounding areas [5,6,9,10,15,34,43]. In contrast, a significant positive correlation between tree growth and temperature was observed in the central Himalayas [4,7,13]. Such different climate responses might be due to different tree species across different macro-and micro-climates [44,45].…”

Section: Climate-and Drought-growth Associations: the Pivotal Role Ofsupporting

confidence: 49%

“…Some studies reported that tree growth near the alpine timberline is mainly controlled by pre-monsoon precipitation [5,6,9,10,12]. Meanwhile, other studies concluded that tree growth is mainly limited by cold pre-monsoon temperatures [7,15], cold conditions from February to June [4], and dry environments from July to September [16]. In comparison with subalpine forests, little is known about the growth response of subtropical and tropical forests to climate change in the central Himalayas.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In recent decades, several studies have investigated forest radial-growth responses to changing climate in the central Himalayas and surrounding regions using tree-ring data [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]. However, most studies focused on subalpine forests, showing variable growth responses to climate across different species, sites, and topographical conditions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Moisture-Limited Tree Growth for a Subtropical Himalayan Conifer Forest in Western Nepal

Sigdel

Dawadi

Camarero

et al. 2018

Forests

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Chir pine (Pinus roxburghii Sarg.) is a common tree species with ecological and economic importance across the subtropical forests of the central Himalayas. However, little is known about its growth response to the recent warming and drying trends observed in this region. Here, we developed a 268-year-long ring-width chronology (1743-2010) from western Nepal to investigate its growth response to climate. Based on nearby available meteorological records, growth was positively correlated with winter (November to February; r = 0.39, p < 0.05) as well as March to April (r = 0.67, p < 0.001) precipitation. Growth also showed a strong positive correlation with the sum of precipitation from November of the previous year to April of the current year (r = 0.65, p < 0.001). In contrast, a negative relationship with the mean temperature in March to April (r = −0.48, p < 0.05) suggests the influence of warming-induced evapotranspiration on tree growth. Spring droughts lasting 4-6 months constrain Chir pine growth. These results are supported by the synchronization between droughts and very narrow or locally missing rings. Warming and drying tendencies during winter and spring will reduce forest growth and resilience and make Chir pine forests more vulnerable and at higher risk of growth decline and dieback.

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Section: Climate-and Drought-growth Associations: the Pivotal Role Ofsupporting

confidence: 49%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Moisture-Limited Tree Growth for a Subtropical Himalayan Conifer Forest in Western Nepal

Sigdel

Dawadi

Camarero

et al. 2018

Forests

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“…This reconstruction, compared with other temperature reconstructions from Nepal viz. FebruaryJune [35], March-September [36] and March-May [37], Bhutan Himalaya [38] and East Asia [39] did not perfectly match with these and other reconstructions. However, some common signals have been captured or shared.…”

Section: Applied Ecology and Environmental Sciencesmentioning

confidence: 75%

Climate Variability and Associated Response of <i>Larix griffithii</i> in Kanchenjunga Conservation Area of Nepal

Bhatta¹,

Dhamala²,

Aryal³

et al. 2018

AEES

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Mountains are most sensitive to climate change and the impacts are already evident in different sphere and sector of mountain regions, especially in the vulnerable countries like Nepal. This research was designed to integrate hydro-climatic data analysis and climate sensitivity through dendrochronology to generate an understanding on how Larix griffithii, one of the least studied conifers in Nepal, is responding to climate variability and change. A significant warming trend of 0.021°C year -1 was observed in the region. Precipitation was more erratic without any significant increasing, decreasing or cyclic trend. Between 1962 and 2012, the warmest year on record was 2010 while 1997 was the coolest year on record. After 1997 a clear shift in temperature regime was observed with the recent decade experiencing a sharp increase in temperature. A site chronology extending 1745-2015 AD was prepared. Very strong significant correlation was observed between the standard chronology and monthly temperature especially in summer months indicating a potential for summer months' temperature reconstruction. The reconstructed summer month's temperature data for the period 1770-2015 captured 34% variability. The short cold episodes were observed around the 1810s, 1910s, and 1970s while warm periods were observed around 1890s, 1920s and 2000s. Radial growth of Larix griffithii in the site shows a highly significant negative relationship with the monthly temperature of the previous year and current year summer months especially for June, July, August, September of previous year and July, August and September of the current year. Significant positive correlation was observed for both previous year and current year July precipitation. The summer temperature coupled with precipitation is seen to limit the tree growth through moisture limitations. With the temperature in increasing trend, it is likely that the growth of Larix will face more heat stress in future, making them more dynamic to the changing climate.

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“…4). It is widely known that tree ring growth in cold and wet ecotopes, situated on sufficiently high elevation in the Northern Hemisphere, strongly correlate with temperature variability in large areas of Asia, Eurasia, and North America (Zhu et al, 2009;Anchukaitis et al, 2013;Thapa et al, 2015;Wiles et al, 2014). The limiting influence of temperature on P. koraiensis growth has been mentioned in many studies Yin et al, 2009;Zhu et al, 2009).…”

Section: Climate-growth Relationshipsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Autumn–winter minimum temperature changes in the southern Sikhote-Alin mountain range of northeastern Asia since 1529 AD

et al. 2018

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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 autumnwinter 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.

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Spring temperatures in the far-western Nepal Himalaya since AD 1640 reconstructed from Picea smithiana tree-ring widths

Cited by 64 publications

References 54 publications

Moisture-Limited Tree Growth for a Subtropical Himalayan Conifer Forest in Western Nepal

Moisture-Limited Tree Growth for a Subtropical Himalayan Conifer Forest in Western Nepal

Climate Variability and Associated Response of <i>Larix griffithii</i> in Kanchenjunga Conservation Area of Nepal

Autumn–winter minimum temperature changes in the southern Sikhote-Alin mountain range of northeastern Asia since 1529 AD

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