The 1920S Drought Recorded by Tree Rings and Historical Documents in the Semi-Arid and Arid Areas of Northern China

Abstract

Abstract. Using a network of tree-ring data, we show that there had been significant growth decline in the 1920s and early 1930s throughout a wide area of northern China. This growth depression is indicative of a severe and sustained drought in the 1920s and early 1930s, which was then confirmed with a variety of historical and instrumental records including hydrological, meteorological, and documentary evidence. The 1920s drought had a devastating effect not only on agricultural productivity, hydrological resources and society in the affected areas, but also on natural vegetation, as inferred from the tree-ring network and historical records. This research offers a picture of the drought calamity during the 1920s and early 1930s in northern China, and demonstrates the potential to identify spatial anomalies of large-scale drought using tree-ring networks in the semi-arid and arid areas of northern China.

Tree-ring based reconstruction of mean maximum temperatures since AD 1829

“…During the last 181 years, there were 33 extreme high-temperature years in the Hulunbuir Area, accounting for 18.3% of the study period. 1926-1928 and 1935-1937 were characterized by severe drought that led to tremendous loss of life in northern China, recognized by other studies (Liu et al 2005, Liang et al 2006, Cai et al 2008. The June-July mean maximum temperature reached the highest value in 1853, while the year with lowest mean maximum temperature in the past 181 years was 1868.…”

Reconstruction of the March–August PDSI since 1703 AD based on tree rings of Chinese pine (<i>Pinus tabulaeformis</i> Carr.) in the Lingkong Mountain, southeast Chinese loess Plateau

“…China, and subsequent drought-induced famines and disease led to the death of 4 million residents in five provinces in north China (Liang et al, 2006;Wang, 2006). An improved knowledge of the characteristics of climate change will enable us to prevent and manage future natural disasters and promote the sustainable development of our society.…”

Reconstruction of early spring temperature for central Japan from the tree‐ring widths of Hinoki cypress and its verification by other proxy records

“…[4] There have been recent efforts to improve the coverage of dendroclimatic reconstructions in East Asia; for example, for Korea, northern China and Japan [e.g., Park and Yadav, 1998;Liang et al, 2006;Davi et al, 2002]. More recently, Siberian High index was reconstructed to investigate a possible link to other climatic regimes [D'Arrigo et al, 2005].…”