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CR 38:129-135 (2009)  -  DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/cr00781

Drought variations in the eastern part of northwest China over the past two centuries: evidence from tree rings

Keyan Fang1,2, Xiaohua Gou1,*, Fahu Chen1, Meixue Yang3, Jinbao Li2, Maosheng He4, Yong Zhang1, Qinghua Tian1, Jianfeng Peng1

1Center for Arid Environment and Paleoclimate Research (CAEP), MOE Key Laboratory of Western China’s Environmental Systems, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
2Tree-Ring Laboratory, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Palisades, New York 10964, USA
3Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
4Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China
*Corresponding author. Email:

ABSTRACT: Drought reconstruction from 1794 to 2003 in the eastern part of NW China was developed by calibrating tree rings of Picea wilsonii on Xinglong Mountain with the Palmer drought severity index (PDSI). The reconstruction explains 40% of the actual PDSI variance during the period from 1951 to 2003. The most significant drought period over the reconstructed time span occurred during the 1920s to 1930s. The drought reconstructions show a climate transition in 1921 on a decadal scale and significant cyclic patterns that were identified in intervals of 10.5, 7.9–8.3, ~3.5, 3.0–3.2, 2.7–2.8 and ~2 yr. This reconstruction is representative of regional drought patterns in eastern NW China and demonstrates that they are different from patterns in western NW China.


KEY WORDS: Dendrochronology · PDSI · Asian monsoon · Northwest China


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Cite this article as: Fang K, Gou X, Chen F, Yang M and others (2009) Drought variations in the eastern part of northwest China over the past two centuries: evidence from tree rings. Clim Res 38:129-135. https://doi.org/10.3354/cr00781

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