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Tree-ring inferred annual mean temperature variations on the southeastern Tibetan Plateau during the last millennium and their relationships with the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation

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We present two tree-ring chronologies for the southeastern Tibetan Plateau (TP), established by applying the signal-free regional curve standardization and standard dendrochronological methodologies to a set of ring-width series of Tibetan juniper. The relationship between tree growth and climate shows that temperature variability in the previous year is the primary factor controlling tree growth at the upper portion of the forest belt. Accordingly, we developed a mean annual temperature reconstruction covering the period A.D. 984–2009 and explaining 50 % of the instrumental variance. The spatial correlation patterns suggest that our temperature reconstruction is a reasonable proxy for temperature change over the TP. At long time scales, the temperature reconstruction shows similar warm-cold patterns to those in temperature records from other regions of the TP, indicating that decadal and multidecadal temperature variations were generally synchronous across the TP during the past millennium. The periods 1140–1350 and 1600–1800 were common warm and cold episodes over the TP, respectively. Comparison of our reconstruction with four Northern Hemisphere (NH) temperature series indicates that temperature changes on the southeastern TP have generally followed the NH temperature patterns during the past millennium. Our results also suggest that temperature variability over the TP is affected by the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO), with the warm (cool) phases of the AMO associated with above-average (below-average) temperatures over the TP.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the editor and three anonymous reviewers for their invaluable comments. Thanks also to Dr. Thomas M. Melvin for supplying the software program “TOMB”. This study was jointly funded by the National Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 41272189), the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) (No. 2010CB950104), the CAS Strategic Priority Research Program Grant (No. XDA05080801), the CAS Interdisciplinary Innovation Team project (29Y329B91), and the CAS 100 Talents Project (No. 29082762). Bao Yang gratefully acknowledges the support by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the K.C. Wong Education Foundation, Hong Kong.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Desert and Desertification, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 320 Donggang West Road, Lanzhou, 730000, Gansu, China

    Jianglin Wang, Bao Yang, Chun Qin, Shuyuan Kang, Minhui He & Zhangyong Wang

  2. MOE Key Laboratory of West China’s Environmental System College of Earth and Environment Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu, China

    Bao Yang

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  1. Jianglin Wang
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  3. Chun Qin
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  5. Minhui He
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Correspondence to Bao Yang.

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Wang, J., Yang, B., Qin, C. et al. Tree-ring inferred annual mean temperature variations on the southeastern Tibetan Plateau during the last millennium and their relationships with the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation. Clim Dyn 43, 627–640 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-013-1802-0

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