Lower Yangtze River 158 Year February-April Precipitation Reconstruction Shi, J.; Lu, H.; Li, J.; Shi, S.; Wu, S.; Hou, X.; Li, L. Shi, J. Lu, H. Li, J. Shi, S. Wu, S. Hou, X. Li, L. Precipitation Reconstruction PIMA Pinus massoniana Lamb. Masson pine earth science/paleoclimate/climate reconstructions|tree ring (age,null,null,year Common Era,null,climate reconstructions|tree ring,null,null,N,null) earth science/paleoclimate/climate reconstructions|tree ring (precipitation,null,null,millimeter,Feb-Apr,climate reconstructions|tree ring,null,null,N,null) earth science/paleoclimate/reconstructions (Lower Yangtze River>LATITUDE >LONGITUDE ) February-April drought strongly affects agriculture and socio-economics in southeastern China, yet its long-term variability has not been assessed due to the shortness of instrumental records. In this study, we reported a 168-year tree-ring width chronology from a steep, low-elevation site with thin soil layers in the Xianxia Mountains, southeastern China. Contrary to the existing chronologies that are mostly temperature sensitive, this chronology contained a strong February-April precipitation signal, indicating great potential for tree-ring based precipitation reconstructions in southeastern China. The reconstruction explained 47.8% of the instrumental variance during 1951-2012. The full reconstruction indicated that there were 3 dry periods (1873-1896, 1924-1971, 1995-2012) and 2 wet periods (1856-1872, 1972-1994) during 1856-2013. The extreme drought in 2011 was not unprecedented for the past 168 years, and the recent severe droughts may be part of interdecadal variations in regional February-April precipitation. Our results also suggested that February-April precipitation in southeastern China was highly influenced by the tropical Pacific climate system, in particular El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). STUDY NOTES: Spring (February-April) 158 year precipitation reconstruction for the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, based on tree-ring data. NCDC-Paleoclimatology https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/data-access/paleoclimatology-data - Bauer Bruce Investigator : Shi, J. Investigator : Lu, H. Investigator : Li, J. Investigator : Shi, S. Investigator : Wu, S. Investigator : Hou, X. Investigator : Li, L. 2015-05-19 ONLINE Files online, ASCII https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/study/18335 https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/treering/reconstructions/asia/china/shi2015precip.txt https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/treering/reconstructions/asia/china/shi2015precip.txt English https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/study/18335 https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/treering/reconstructions/asia/china/shi2015precip.txt Jiangfeng Shi, Huayu Lu, Jinbao Li, Shiyuan Shi, Shuangye Wu, Xinyuan Hou, Lingling Li2015Tree-ring based February-April precipitation reconstruction for the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, southeastern ChinaGlobal and Planetary Change13182-8810.1016/j.gloplacha.2015.05.006http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921818115000910 START YEAR: 1856 AD * END YEAR: 2013 AD 116 28 122 34