Reconstructed precipitation in the Lohit River basin, southern Tibetan Plateau since 1720 CE and its weak linkages with monsoon‐season Brahmaputra discharge

Abstract

High Asian glaciers and precipitation have directly or indirectly influenced the freshwater supply of billions of people and natural ecosystems in surrounding areas. To better understand the hydroclimatic changes in the High Asian transboundary river basins in the context of global warming, more precipitation‐sensitive proxy data are needed. In this paper, we used the tree‐ring cores of Pinus densata and Picea brachytyla from the southern Tibetan Plateau (TP) to establish a tree‐ring‐width composite chronology and estimate hydrological annual (September–August) precipitation (r2 = 47.0%, p < 0.01) for the Lohit River basin from 1720 to 2019. Our reconstructed precipitation was closely linked with the glacier mass balance of Shishapangma peak, which may provide us with some evidence for glacier fluctuations in the southern TP. Our precipitation reconstruction successfully captured recent dry trends and generally agreed with other tree‐ring‐based precipitation reconstructions from nearby regions. In addition, reconstructed precipitation variations were inconsistent with recorded monsoon‐season Brahmaputra discharge.

Tree‐ring‐based reconstruction of the precipitation variability in the middle Taihang Mountains (1608–2021)

“…Examining dry and wet variations on a broader scale is more advantageous in elucidating spatial hydrological and climatic transformations, and concurrently, it serves to validate the accuracy of precipitation reconstruction (Hannaford et al, 2011; Yue et al, 2022). This study focuses on conducting a comparative analysis of the reconstructed precipitation with hydrological reconstruction sequences in North China and the Yellow River Basin (Figure 7).…”

Radial growth response of Pinus Yunnanensis to climate in high mountain forests of northwestern Yunnan, southwestern China

“…Therefore, the area is considered an excellent location to conduct a dendroclimatology study (Fan et al, 2009). Many efforts have been made to reconstruct historical climate and to find key climate factors affecting tree growth by using tree ring data of typical coniferous tree species in CHM, such as for Abies georgei (Fan et al, 2009;Liang et al, 2010;Panthi et al, 2018), Larix potaninii (Zhang et al, 2017¸ 2020, Picea brachytyla (Fan et al, 2008;Li et al, 2012;Yue et al, 2022), Picea likiangensis (Wang et al, 2018;Yu et al, 2018;Du et al, 2020), and Tsuga dumosa (Guo G. et al, 2009;Li et al, 2011;Aryal et al, 2020). These studies found that tree radial growth was influenced by both temperature and precipitation, but the growth response pattern was depended on species characteristics and site conditions.…”