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Precipitation variations and possible forcing factors on the Northeastern Tibetan Plateau during the last millennium

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Xiaohua Gou ,
Yang Deng ,
Fahu Chen ,
Meixue Yang ,
Linlin Gao ,
Atle Nesje  and
Keyan Fang
Xiaohua Gou*
Affiliation:
MOE Key Laboratory of Western China's Environmental Systems, Collaborative Innovation Centre for Arid Environments and Climate Change, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 73000, China
Yang Deng
Affiliation:
MOE Key Laboratory of Western China's Environmental Systems, Collaborative Innovation Centre for Arid Environments and Climate Change, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 73000, China
Fahu Chen
Affiliation:
MOE Key Laboratory of Western China's Environmental Systems, Collaborative Innovation Centre for Arid Environments and Climate Change, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 73000, China
Meixue Yang
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Sciences, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
Linlin Gao
Affiliation:
MOE Key Laboratory of Western China's Environmental Systems, Collaborative Innovation Centre for Arid Environments and Climate Change, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 73000, China
Atle Nesje
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Science, University of Bergen, N-5007 Bergen, Norway Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, N-5007 Bergen, Norway
Keyan Fang
Affiliation:
MOE Key Laboratory of Western China's Environmental Systems, Collaborative Innovation Centre for Arid Environments and Climate Change, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 73000, China
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail address:xhgou@lzu.edu.cn (X. Gou).
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Abstract

Understanding precipitation variation, drought and flood history, and their associated forcing mechanisms are important to human society. In this study, five moisture-sensitive tree-ring width chronologies are used to represent variations in precipitation over the past millennium on the Northeastern Tibetan Plateau (NETP). We find a strong coherency between chronologies in the NETP, indicating a common response to regional climate during the last millennium. The first principal component of the five chronologies (PC1) correlates significantly with regional precipitation and can thus be used as an indicator of regional precipitation variations. Dry spells, even more severe than the 1920s drought, occurred during AD 1139–1152, 1294–1309, 1446–1503 and 1708–1726. Previous studies in this area using other proxies also identified these droughts. Multi-Taper spectral analysis demonstrates significant periodicities at 205 yr and 73 yr, plus a range of ~ 2 yr cycles, suggesting possible linkage with solar variation and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO). PC1 also shows coherent patterns with solar irradiance variation: the precipitation tends to reach low values during the well-known solar minimum.

Keywords

Northeastern Tibetan PlateauPrecipitation variationsTree ringLast millenniumPossible forcing factors
Type
Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 81 , Issue 3 , May 2014 , pp. 508 - 512
Copyright
University of Washington

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