General characteristics of temperature variation in China during the last two millennia

Three alternate China-wide temperature composites covering the last 2000 years were established by combining multiple paleoclimate proxy records obtained from ice cores, tree rings, lake sediments and historical documents. Five periods of temperature variation can be identified: a warm stage in AD 0–240, a cold interval between AD 240 and 800, a return to warm conditions from AD 800–1400, including the Medieval Warm Period between AD 800–1100, the cool Little Ice Age period between 1400–1920, and the present warm stage since 1920. Regional temperature variation is found during AD 800–1100, when warm conditions occurred in Eastern China and in the northeastern Tibetan Plateau and in AD 1150–1380, when the southern Tibetan Plateau experienced a warm interval. In contrast, evidence for cool conditions during the LIA is more consistent among the proxy records. The temperature reconstructions for China and the Northern Hemisphere show good agreement over the past millennium.

[1]  P. Jones,et al.  Climatic variations over the last 500 years , 1992 .

[2]  Shi Yafeng,et al.  Decadal climatic variations recorded in Guliya ice core and comparison with the historical documentary data from East China during the last 2000 years , 1999 .

[3]  Eiji Matsumoto,et al.  Climatic implications of δ13C variations in a Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica) during the last two millenia , 1995 .

[4]  X. Qin,et al.  Response of climate to solar forcing recorded in a 6000-yearδ18O time-series of Chinese peat cellulose , 2000 .

[5]  D. Gong,et al.  Enhancement of the warming trend in China , 2000 .

[6]  T. P. Barnett,et al.  High-resolution palaeoclimatic records for the last millennium: interpretation, integration and comparison with General Circulation Model control-run temperatures , 1998 .

[7]  K. Chu,et al.  A PRELIMINARY STUDY ON THE CLIMATIC FLUCTUATIONS DURING THE LAST 5,000 YEARS IN CHINA , 1973 .

[8]  Chang-chun Feng,et al.  A study on regional difference of China’s paid urban landuse system and grading , 1994 .

[9]  F. Schweingruber,et al.  1300 years of climatic history for Western Central Asia inferred from tree-rings , 2002 .

[10]  Xingcheng Kang,et al.  Decadal cimatic variations indicated by dulan tree-ring and comparison with other proxy data in China of the last 2000 years , 2000 .

[11]  Malcolm K. Hughes,et al.  Was there a ‘medieval warm period’, and if so, where and when? , 1994 .

[12]  Z. De’er Evidence for the existence of the medieval warm period in China , 1994 .

[13]  1000 years of climatic change in China: ice-core δ18O evidence , 1995 .

[14]  E. Mosley‐Thompson,et al.  "Recent warming'" ice core evidence from tropical ice cores with emphasis on Central Asia , 1993 .

[15]  K. R. Bri Annual climate variability in the Holocene: interpreting the message of ancient trees , 2000 .

[16]  Thomas J. Crowley,et al.  How Warm Was the Medieval Warm Period? , 2000 .

[17]  M. Hughes,et al.  Northern hemisphere temperatures during the past millennium: Inferences, uncertainties, and limitations , 1999 .

[18]  T. Yao,et al.  Decadal climatic variations recorded in Guliya ice core and comparison with the historical documentary data from East China during the last 2000 years , 1999 .

[19]  C. Chen,et al.  Paleoclimatological and paleoenvironmental records since 4 000 a B. P. in sediments of alpine lakes in Taiwan , 1997 .

[20]  Keith R. Briffa,et al.  Estimating Sampling Errors in Large-Scale Temperature Averages , 1997 .

[21]  G. Ren Pollen evidence for increased summer rainfall in the medieval warm period at Maili, northeast China , 1998 .

[22]  C. Chen,et al.  Paleoclimatological records of the Great Ghost Lake in Taiwan , 1997 .