Spring precipitation variations over the Western Himalaya, India, since A.D. 1731 as deduced from tree rings

Abstract

Spring precipitation, representative of regional-scale features, was reconstructed since A.D. 1731 using 15 site ring width chronologies of Himalayan cedar (Cedrus deodara (Roxb. ex Lambert) G. Don), prepared from distantly located moisture-stressed sites in the western Himalayan region. This is so far the strongest tree-ring-based precipitation reconstruction in terms of variance explained in the calibration model (A.D. 1897-1986) from the western Himalayan region. The twentieth century experienced the driest and wettest years in the whole reconstructed series. The 10- and 20-year means also indicate extreme precipitation periods in the twentieth century. The increasing precipitation trend noticed in the reconstructed data of the late twentieth century closely matches with instrumental data.