May-June maximum temperature reconstruction from mean earlywood density in north central China and its linkages to the summer monsoon activities

Abstract

Cores of Pinus tabulaformis from Tianshui were subjected to densitometric analysis to obtain mean earlywood density data. Climate response analysis indicates that May-June maximum temperature is the main factor limiting the mean earlywood density (EWD) of Chinese pine trees in the Shimen Mountains. Based on the EWD chronology, we have reconstructed May-June maximum temperature 1666 to 2008 for Tianshui, north central China. The reconstruction explains 40.1% of the actual temperature variance during the common period 1953-2008. The temperature reconstruction is representative of temperature conditions over a large area to the southeast and northwest of the sampling site. Preliminary analysis of links between large-scale climatic variation and the temperature reconstruction shows that there is a relationship between extremes in spring temperature and anomalous atmospheric circulation in the region. It is thus revealed that the mean earlywood density chronology of Pinus tabulaformis has enough potential to reconstruct the temperature variability further into the past.