Precipitation Variations in the Eastern Part of the Hexi Corridor during AD 1765-2010 Reveal Changing Precipitation Signal in Gansu

Abstract

We reconstructed August-May precipitation from AD 1765 to 2010 for the eastern part of the Hexi Corridor, northwest China, using tree rings of Picea crassifolia. The precipitation reconstruction explains 44.1% of the actual precipitation variance during the common period of 1951-2010. The precipitation reconstruction is representative of precipitation conditions over a large area of the Hexi Corridor. Multi-taper spectral analysis reveals the existence of significant variability with periods of 9.3, 6.7, 3.1, and 2.6 years. Comparison between the precipitation reconstruction of the eastern part of the Hexi Corridor and other nearby precipitation/drought reconstructions shows high coherency in the timing of dry/wet episodes on annual to decadal scale. The divergences existing between the reconstructions may reflect the influence of different geographic features in Gansu and differences in seasonality of the various precipitation/drought reconstructions. © 2016 by The Tree-Ring Society.