Tree‐ring‐based snowfall record for cold arid western Himalaya, India since A.D. 1460

Abstract

Understanding snowfall variations in high‐elevation cold arid regions of the western Himalaya is important as snowmelt water is the main source of water to meet the scores of socioeconomic needs. The ground‐based observational data, though limited to the last two decades, show decreasing snowfall, raising the concern of looming water scarcity in the region. The tree‐ring data of Himalayan cedar from a network of six moisture‐stressed sites, where snowmelt water is the sole source of soil moisture for tree growth, were used to develop the November–April snow water equivalent (SWE) extending back to A.D. 1460. The reconstruction revealed persistent severe droughts in the 1780s followed by the 1480s and relatively lesser magnitude droughts in the 1540s–1560s, 1740s, and early twentieth century. The pluvial conditions observed in 1948–1958 and 1986–1996 stand out over any other period of such duration. The SWE reconstruction revealed large‐scale spatial coherence with the corresponding month's Palmer Drought Severity Index over the western Himalayan region. Significant relationship observed between SWE reconstruction and January–March Chenab River flow revealed its potential utility in understanding water resource availability in the long‐term perspective.

Precipitation reconstruction for the Lidder Valley, Kashmir Himalaya using tree‐rings of Cedrus deodara

“…The paired droughts in 1970 and 1971 are considered as an extended large‐scale drought that caused serious hydrological stress on socio‐economic systems in Kishtwar (Singh et al ., ) an adjoining area to the present study site. These paired droughts of 1970–1971 are common over large parts of the adjoining cold semi‐arid regions of Kinnaur and Lahaul–Spiti in Himachal Pradesh (Yadav and Bhutiyani, ; Yadava et al ., ; cf. Singh et al ., ).…”

“…in the AMJ‐P. The dry period in AMJ‐P during the beginning of the 21st century corresponds with drought like condition observed in adjoining areas (Singh et al ., ) and in large parts of the western Himalaya, which might be due to weakening of the westerlies (Yadav and Bhutiyani, ; Yadava et al ., ). Thus, it is imperative to point out that tree‐ring studies from the Kashmir Valley record a remarkable pattern in the temporal and spatial precipitation variation.…”

Growth–climate relationships of Himalayan conifers along elevational and latitudinal gradients

“…According to previous analyses, a strong negative relationship with temperature and a positive relationship with precipitation during the pre‐monsoon months are identified as the dominant climatic signals for Cedrus trees in the moisture‐stressed western Himalayas (Borgaonkar et al ., , ). These growth–climate relationships have served as a basis not only for centuries‐long spring‐temperature reconstructions (Yadav et al ., , ; Yadav and Singh, ) but also for the snow‐water equivalent, spring and summer rainfall reconstructions (Singh and Yadav, ; Singh et al ., ; Yadav and Bhutiyani, ). In addition to a significant negative effect of May temperature, the Cedrus sites here showed a significant positive response to snow cover in November and December during the dormant period.…”

Tree-Ring Response to Snow Cover and Reconstruction of Century annual Maximum Snow Depth for Northern Tianshan Mountains, China

“…Because of the precise dating control, annual resolution, and comparability with instrumental meteorological data, tree-ring data have become increasingly valuable in disclosing the longterm dynamics of climate in different regions of the world (Briffa et al, 2001;Esper et al, 2002Esper et al, , 2007Palmer et al, 2006;Liu et al, 2009;Cook et al, 2010;Shao et al, 2010;Büntgen et al, 2011). However, few studies (e.g., Woodhouse, 2003;Timilsena and Piechota, 2008;Yadav and Bhutiyani, 2013) have reconstructed snow cover using tree-ring chronologies as predictors. In this study, we developed five tree-ring-width chronologies for the northern Tianshan Mountains, analyzed tree-ring response to snow cover and its possible physiological significance, and reconstructed the century annual maximum snow depth of the northern Tianshan Mountains.…”