The Potential of Using Tree-Ring Chronology from the Southern Coast of Korea to Reconstruct the Climate of Subtropical Western North Pacific: A Pilot Study

• Tree-ring width (TRW) chronologies have successfully been used as climate proxies to infer climate variabilities over the past hundreds to thousands of years worldwide beyond observational records. However, these data are scarce over parts of subtropical East Asia, and especially over the Korean Peninsula. In this pilot study, Korean red pine (Pinus densiflora Siebold and Zucc.) TRW chronologies from Mt. Mudeung and Mt. Wolchul, South Korea, were developed, and their localto large-scale climatic responses were investigated. Mt. Mudeung TRWhad a positive association with local temperature in the preceding December and April. Mt. Wolchul TRW had a positive association with local temperature in the preceding December and most of the early summer to autumn months, and with local precipitation in February and October. On a large scale, both TRWs retained meaningful temperature and monsoon precipitation signals over East Asia and sea surface temperature signals over the Western North Pacific. The results suggest that the subtropical trees from South Korea can be used to infer past long-term climate variability at both local and large scales over East Asia and the Western North Pacific, such as the East Asian summer monsoon, the Kuroshio Current, theWestern North Pacific Subtropical High, and El Niño–Southern Oscillation.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap -- Klimatforskning (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Earth and Related Environmental Sciences -- Climate Research (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

East Asian climate; tree ring; Korean red pine; Western North Pacific; Korean Peninsula

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