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Journal of Arid Land  2016, Vol. 8 Issue (4): 492-505    DOI: 10.1007/s40333-016-0009-8
Research Articles     
Drought fluctuations based on dendrochronology since 1786 for the Lenglongling Mountains at the northwestern fringe of the East Asian summer monsoon region
HOU Ying1,2*, NIU Zhenmin2, ZHENG Fang1, WANG Nai’ang2, WANG Jianyu1, LI Zhuolun2, CHEN Hongxiang1, ZHANG Xuemin2
1 College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Ningxia University, Yinchuan 750021, China;
2 Center for Climate Change and Hydrologic Cycle in Arid Region, College of Earth and Environmental Science, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
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Abstract  The Lenglongling Mountains (LLM) located in northeastern part of the Tibet Plateau, belong to a marginal area of the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) and are sensitive to monsoon dynamics. Two tree-ring width chronologies developed from six sites of Picea crassifolia in the LLM were employed to study the regional drought variability. Correlation and temporal correlation analyses showed that relationships between the two chronologies and self-calibrated Palmer Drought Severity Index (sc_PDSI) were significant and stable across time, demonstrating the strength of sc_PDSI in modeling drought conditions in this region. Based on the relationships, the mean sc_PDSI was reconstructed for the period from 1786 to 2013. Dry conditions prevailed during 1817–1819, 1829–1831, 1928–1931 and 1999–2001. Relatively wet periods were identified for 1792–1795 and 1954–1956. Spatial correlations with other fourteen precipitation/drought reconstructed series in previous studies revealed that in arid regions of Northwest China, long-term variability of moisture conditions was synchronous before the 1950s at a decadal scale (1791–1954). In northwestern margin of the EASM, most of all selected reconstructions had better consistency in low-frequency variation, especially during dry periods, indicating similar regional moisture variations and analogous modes of climate forcing on tree growth in the region.

Key wordsamphibian and reptile      distribution pattern      higher level zoogeographic division      similarity analysis      boundary test      arid area      Central Asia     
Received: 25 October 2015      Published: 10 August 2016
Fund:  

The National Natural Science Foundation of China (51309134), the National Science Foundation for Fostering Talents in Basic Research of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (J1210065), the Research Starting Funds for Imported Talents, Ningxia University (BQD2012011) and the Natural Science Funds, Ningxia University (ZR1233).

Corresponding Authors:
Cite this article:

HOU Ying, NIU Zhenmin, ZHENG Fang, WANG Nai’ang, WANG Jianyu, LI Zhuolun, CHEN Hongxiang, ZHANG Xuemin. Drought fluctuations based on dendrochronology since 1786 for the Lenglongling Mountains at the northwestern fringe of the East Asian summer monsoon region. Journal of Arid Land, 2016, 8(4): 492-505.

URL:

http://jal.xjegi.com/10.1007/s40333-016-0009-8     OR     http://jal.xjegi.com/Y2016/V8/I4/492

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