Quantifying the Intra-Regional Precipitation Variability in Northwestern China over the Past 1,400 Years

Harry F Lee; Qing Pei; David D Zhang; Kan P K Choi

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0131693

Quantifying the Intra-Regional Precipitation Variability in Northwestern China over the Past 1,400 Years

PLoS One. 2015 Jul 8;10(7):e0131693. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0131693. eCollection 2015.

Authors

Harry F Lee¹, Qing Pei¹, David D Zhang¹, Kan P K Choi²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Geography, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong SAR, China; International Centre of China Development Studies, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong SAR, China.
² Department of Geography, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong SAR, China.

Abstract

There has been a surge of paleo-climatic/environmental studies of Northwestern China (NW China), a region characterized by a diverse assortment of hydro-climatic systems. Their common approach, however, focuses on "deducing regional resemblance" rather than "exploring regional variance." To date, efforts to produce a quantitative assessment of long-term intra-regional precipitation variability (IRPV) in NW China has been inadequate. In the present study, we base on historical flood/drought records to compile a decadal IRPV index for NW China spanned AD580-1979 and to find its major determinants via wavelet analysis. Results show that our IRPV index captures the footprints of internal hydro-climatic disparity in NW China. In addition, we find distinct ~120-200 year periodicities in the IRPV index over the Little Ice Age, which are attributable to the change of hydro-climatic influence of ocean-atmospheric modes during the period. Also, we offer statistical evidence of El Niño Southern Oscillation (Indo-Pacific warm pool sea surface temperature and China-wide land surface temperature) as the prominent multi-decadal to centennial (centennial to multi-centennial) determinant of the IRPV in NW China. The present study contributes to the quantitative validation of the long-term IRPV in NW China and its driving forces, covering the periods with and without instrumental records. It may help to comprehend the complex hydro-climatic regimes in the region.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Atmosphere
China
Climate
Geography*
Oceans and Seas
Paleontology
Rain*
Reproducibility of Results
Time Factors
Wavelet Analysis

Grants and funding

This research was supported by the Hui Oi-Chow Trust Fund (201205172003 and 201302172003), HKU Seed Funding Programme for Basic Research (201109159014), Research Grants Council of The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China (HKU758712H and HKU745113H), and the CAS/SAFEA International Partnership Program for Creative Research Teams. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.