As a consequence of recent global warming and its social impact, regional climate change is attracting an increasing amount of attention from scientists. A May-July temperature proxy extending back to 1836 was developed from tree-ring width of Chinese pine (Pinus tabulaeformis Carr.) found in the middle Lüliang Mountains, northern China. Correlations with climatic data from six nearby meteorological stations range from -0.58 to -0.65, indicating a strong response of tree-ring index to May-July mean temperatures, which were subsequently reconstructed. The reconstruction captures 45% (F=38.474, P<0.001) of the regional variance in the instrumental data over the calibration period 1955-2003. Reconstructed warm and cold periods were verified by additional temperature reconstructions based on tree-ring data from northern China. In addition, the reconstruction was significantly corre-lated with May-July mean temperatures from 13 other meteorological stations in northern China, suggesting that our reconstruction is also representative of north-central China. The warming trend during the second half of the 20th century is seen in the reconstruction, but only the 1994-2002 mean temperature seems unprecedented over the whole reconstructed period.
Long-time series of high-resolution temperature record from Chinese Loess Plateau is rare. An April-September mean temperature reconstruction (1826-2004) has been developed for the north-central Shaanxi Province, China, based on tree-ring width analysis. The reconstruction captures 39.3% (p<0.001) of the variance in the instrumental data over the calibration period from 1951 to 2002. The reconstruction shows a high temperature period of 1928-1933, which coincides with the timing of the extreme drought event in 1920s in the entire northern China. The two low temperature periods in reconstruction are 1883-1888 and 1938-1942. With the global warming, the April-September mean temperature in study area has also increased since the 1970s, but has not exceeded the temperature in 1928-1933. Besides the statistical analysis, the reconstruction is also verified by the local dryness/wetness index and other dendroclimatological results.
Lake Qinghai is the largest inland brackish lake in China and lies within the NE Tibetan Plateau. Our study shows that pollen assemblages in each vegetation belt are significantly correlated with the vegetation types of this area. Among the herbaceous and shrubby pollen assemblages, Artemisia is over-represented, while Poaceae, Cyperaceae and Polygonaceae are under-represented. Artemisia/ Chenopodiaceae (A/C) ratios with the regional vegetation characteristic can be used as a proper index to reconstruct the history of vegetation and climate in Lake Qinghai basin. Modern pollen in the lake mainly comes from the nearby vegetation, controlled by the directions and velocity of the wind. The distribution of modern pollen in Lake Qinghai tends to be similar in most part of the lake. The difference of pollen sedimentation process in the lake can be potentially influenced by the focusing function of the lake, river streams, and lake current.
