Tree ring width‐based January–March mean minimum temperature reconstruction from Larix gmelinii in the Greater Khingan Mountains, China since AD 1765

Abstract

A ring-width chronology of Larix gmelinii (LG) was developed in the northern Greater Khingan Mountains region of China. The response function analyses revealed that the local mean minimum temperature of January-March (T 1-3) was the most limiting factor affecting the radial growth of LG trees. Based on correlation analysis, a reconstructed T 1-3 series from 1765 to 2013 was produced using standard ring-width chronology. The reconstruction explained 41.2% of the total variance in recorded monthly mean minimum temperatures from 1960 to 2013. The reconstructed T 1-3 series had similar variability when compared with the May-September mean temperature reconstruction in Inner Mongolia (IM) and the February-March mean minimum temperature reconstruction in Yichun (YC). This reconstructed T 1-3 series also captured the severe snow disaster and cold wave events recorded from historical documents in Heilongjiang and Inner Mongolia. Spatial correlations between reconstructed series and gridded temperature data also provided a high level of confidence. In addition, significant relationships between the reconstructed T 1-3 series and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), solar activity, indicated that the T 1-3 variation might be influenced by large-scale ocean-atmosphere interactions.

Variability in the minimum temperature over two centuries in the overlap region between the fringe of the Asian westerly region and the temperate continental-monsoon climate transition zone

“…Figure 8b is the reconstructed annual mean temperature series from 1766 to 2017 for Tianshan mountain, Xinjiang (TSM, a region in the central core area of the Asian westerly region) (Peng et al, 2020). Figure 8c shows the annual mean minimum temperature series from 1765 to 2013 for Hulunbuir area in northeast China (CET, middle-latitude parts of the transition zone) (Jiang et al, 2020). Figure 8d shows the summer mean temperature series in the Koryma River Basin from 1550 to 1989 for the Eastern Siberia (EST, high-latitude parts of the transition zone) (Earle et al, 1994).…”

“…(Earle et al, 1994;Jiang et al, 2020), Picea asperata Mast. (Peng et al, 2020;Zhang et al, 2020) for the reconstruction of meteorological factors such as the mean temperature (Peng et al, 2020), mean minimum temperature (Jiang et al, 2020), and Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) (Liu et al, 2017), in the central and northern parts of the Asian westerly region, including Southern Kazakhstan (Zhang et al, 2020), and Northwest China (Peng et al, 2020), and the middle-to high-latitude parts of the transition zone, including Northeast China (Jiang et al, 2020) and Siberia (Earle et al, 1994). The temperature variability over the last two centuries in the Asian westerly region and the transition zone were signi cantly affected by global climate change (Liu et al, 2017;Liang et al, 2018;Sun et al, 2019).…”

Spatial Variation and Temporal Instability in the Growth/Climate Relationship of White Birch (Betula platyphylla Suk) in the Changbai Mountain, China

“…Similar results were also obtained by Yu et al (2013) and [21,34], who suggested that the radial growth of Korean pine increased at higher elevations, while decreased at low elevations under climate change characterized by warming and drought in Changbai Mountain. In addition, climate change can also cause changes in the distribution of tree species at certain latitudes in northeast China [22,27].…”

“…There is increasing evidence that since the 1970s, the northeast China region has experienced rapid warming, leading to a warming and drying trend in this region [17][18][19][20]. The Northeast Forest is one of the three major state-owned forest areas in China, which is extremely sensitive to climatic and environmental changes [21][22][23][24], and the relationship of its dynamics with climatic factors has been receiving more and more attention.…”

“…The increasing temperature is affecting the growth of trees in Northeast China [22,25]. The results from models indicated that the distribution of dominant conifer species in northeast China will tend to move northward and to higher altitudes, and the forest structure and composition will change under the coming climate warming and drying scenarios [25][26][27].…”