A 3,500-year tree-ring record of annual precipitation on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau

• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1319238111
• Publication Date: 2014-02-11T06:09:20Z
• Authors: Bao Yang; Chun Qin; Jianglin Wang; Minhui He; Thomas M. Melvin; Timothy J. Osborn; Keith R. Briffa
• Keywords: Time Factors; 550; Geography; Climate Change; Rain; 15. Life on land; Tibet; 01 natural sciences; Trees; 900; 13. Climate action; Snow; History, Ancient; 0105 earth and related environmental sciences

SignificanceThis paper describes the production and climatic interpretation of a tree-ring width chronology that is currently the longest, absolutely dated series produced for the northeastern Tibetan Plateau and one of the longest in the world. The method of chronology construction enables comparison of variations in precipitation totals over long timescales as well as shorter periods. Precipitation in this region during the last 50 years has been historically high—likely higher than for any equivalent length period in at least 3,500 years, even when considering the chronology and interpretational uncertainty. Notable dry periods occurred in the 4th century BCE and in the second half of the 15th century CE.