Tree-Ring-Recorded Drought Variability in the Northern Daxing’anling Mountains of Northeastern China

Abstract

We developed two tree-ring width chronologies of Mongolian Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica) from the low elevation forest of the northern Daxing’anling Mountains of Inner Mongolia. Although the two chronologies come from different sampling sites, significant correlations existed among the chronologies (r = 0.318), and the first principal component (PC1) accounted for 65.9% of total variance over their common period 1792–2016. Climate-growth correlation analysis revealed that the previous June and July Palmer drought severity index (PDSIp6-7) was the main climatic factor controlling tree-ring growth. Using a linear regression model, we reconstructed the PDSIp6-7 for the past 225 years (1792–2016). The reconstruction satisfied required statistical calibration and validation tests, and represented 38.6% of the PDSI variance recorded by instruments over the period 1955–2016. Six wet and five dry periods were revealed during these 225 years. The drought of 1903–1927 was the most severe drought in the study area in the last 225 years. Comparison with other tree-ring-based moisture-sensitive sequences from nearby regions confirmed a high degree of confidence in our reconstruction. The results of a spatial climate correlation analysis with a gridded PDSI dataset revealed that our reconstructions contained strong regional drought signals for the southern Stanovoy Range and the northern Daxing’anling Mountains. The power spectrum revealed the existence of significant frequency cycles, which may be linked to large-scale atmospheric-oceanic variability, such as the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, solar activity, and the North Atlantic Oscillation.

Precipitation reconstruction based on tree-ring width over the past 270 years in the central Lesser Khingan Mountains, Northeast China

“…Based on the correlations between TRW indices and climatic factors, the total precipitation from previous October to current June played a key role in regulating the radial growth of Korean pine in our study area, which indicated that the total precipitation during periods before and during the early growing season is the major factor affecting the growth of Korean pine. Similar results about the climate-tree growth relationship were found in Northeast China (Chen et al, 2012;Liu et al, 2010;Yu et al, 2018a;Zhang et al, 2014;Wang and Lv, 2012) and other regions, especially in semi-arid Northwest China (Fang et al, 2013;Liang et al, 2009). We speculate that one reason is the snow accumulated early in the season, which can insulate the soil and contribute to keeping warm soil temperatures in winter and rapid water absorption by the roots in the following spring and early growing season (Fritts, 1976).…”

A 424-year tree-ring-based Palmer Drought Severity Index reconstruction of <i>Cedrus deodara</i> D. Don from the Hindu Kush range of Pakistan: linkages to ocean oscillations

“…Our reconstruction also captured a range of changes in climate mentioned in other studies (Ahmad et al, 2004;Yu et al, 2014;Chen et al, 2019;Gaire et al, 2019). Our reconstruction featured nine dry periods (1593-1598, 1602-1608, 1631-1645, 1647-1660, 1756-1765, 1785-1800, 1870-1878, 1917-1923, and 1981-1995) and eight wet periods (1663-1675, 1687-1708, 1771-1773, 1806-1814, 1844-1852, 1932-1935, 1965-1969, and 1990-1999).…”

“…Sigdel and Ikeda (2010) reported that droughts occurred in 1974, 1977, 1985, 1993, the winter of 2001, and the summers of 1977, 1982, 1991, and 1992. Our PDSI reconstruction fully captured the widespread drought in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan during 1970-1971(Yu et al, 2014. The above drought disrupted daily life and led to food and water shortages and livestock losses in high-altitude areas (Yadav, 2011;Yadav and Bhutiyani, 2013;Yadav et al, 2017).…”

“…Numerous studies have shown that the intensity and frequency of drought events have increased owing to rapid climate warming (IPCC, 2013;Trenberth et al, 2014). Droughts have serious adverse effects on social, natural, and economic systems (Ficklin et al, 2015;Yao and Chen, 2015;Tejedor et al, 2017;Yu et al, 2018). Globally, drought is considered to be the most destructive climate-related disaster, and it has caused billions of dollars in worldwide loss (van der Schrier et al, 2013;Lesk et al, 2016).…”

A 424-year tree-ring based PDSI reconstruction of <i>Cedrus deodara</i> D. Don from Chitral HinduKush Range of Pakistan: linkages to the ocean oscillations

“…Numerous studies have shown that the intensity and frequency of drought events have increased due to rapid climate warming (Stocker et al, 2013;IPCC, 2013). The apparent drought has had serious adverse effects on social, natural, and economic systems (Ficklin et al, 2015;Yu et al, 2018;Yao et al, 2015). Global drought is considered to be the most destructive climate disaster that has caused billions of dollars in worldwide loss (Zhu et al, 2009;Seneviratne et al, 2012).…”