Reconstruction of heat index based on tree-ring width records of western Himalaya in India |
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| Institution: | 1. Key Laboratory of Alpine Ecology, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China;2. Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China;3. CAS Centre for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.;4. College of Resources and Environment, Linyi University, Linyi 276005, China;5. Department of Botany, Bacha Khan University Charsadda, KPK, Pakistan;6. Department of Geography, Texas State University, 601 University Dr. ELA139, San Marcos, TX 78666, USA;7. Institute of International Rivers and Eco-Security, Yunnan University, Kunming 650500, China;8. Department of Environmental Sciences, Karakoram International University Gilgit, Pakistan;9. Institute of Geography, Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Wetterkreuz 15, 91058 Erlangen, Germany |
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| Abstract: | To study climate variability/change, the tree-ring width index chronologies of two species (Cedrus deodara and Pinus roxburghii) of the western Himalaya was determined. The first principal component (PC1) prepared using the three-site tree-ring width chronologies of the western Himalaya was found to be negatively correlated with the heat index and positively with the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) and moisture index from February to May as representative of the regional climate. The correlation coefficient of PC1 with the heat index, PDSI, and moisture index for the period 1901–1988 was estimated to be ?0.60, 0.37, and 0.59, respectively, which were highly significant at 0.1% level. The result shows that increasing the heat index may enhance transpiration and evaporation over the western Himalaya, which may cause insufficient moisture at the root zone of the trees. Based on the tree-ring data, the heat index of spring season (February–May) was reconstructed back to AD 1839. The reconstructed heat index showed the longest warm periods during 1952–1963 and 1966–1976 in the 20th century. |
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| Keywords: | Western Himalaya Conifer trees Tree-ring chronologies Heat index Moisture index |
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