1. Drought history inferred from tree ring δC and δO in the central Tianshan Mountains of China and linkage with the North Atlantic Oscillation.
- Author
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Xu, Guobao, Liu, Xiaohong, Qin, Dahe, Chen, Tuo, Sun, Weizhen, An, Wenling, Wang, Wenzhi, Wu, Guoju, Zeng, Xiaomin, and Ren, Jiawen
- Subjects
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DENDROCHRONOLOGY , *NORTH Atlantic oscillation , *METEOROLOGICAL precipitation , *HUMIDITY , *EVAPOTRANSPIRATION , *WAVELETS (Mathematics) - Abstract
Annual tree ring δO and δC chronologies from 1790 to 2008 were established using Tianshan spruce ( Picea schrenkiana) in the central Tianshan Mountains of northwestern China. Temperature has a positive effect on tree ring δO and δC in the study area, while precipitation and relative humidity have negative effects. The standardized precipitation-evapotranspiration index (SPEI) considered all of these effects and was significantly negatively correlated with tree ring δO and δC. We combined the tree ring δO and δC series to reconstruct the past 192 years of SPEI, which accounted for about 46 % of the total variance of SPEI from 1950 to 2006. The reconstruction showed good spatial agreement with gridded data in Palmer Drought Severity Index and precipitation and an inverse relationship with temperature. Our SPEI reconstruction reveals several wet and dry periods over the past 192 years and has good agreement with other drought records. Wavelet analysis showed quasi-periodic 10-, 20-, 30-, and 70-year fluctuations in the reconstruction. The 10-, 20-, and 30-year periodicities may reflect the potential influence of North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). Overall, this study indicates that the SPEI is a potential drought index, and the winter NAO affects regional moisture conditions in the long term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2014
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