Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T03:10:48.107Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Little Ice Age Climate near Beijing, China, Inferred from Historical and Stalagmite Records

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Weihong Qian  and
Yafen Zhu
Weihong Qian
Affiliation:
Department of Atmospheric Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China, E-mail: qianwh@pku.edu.cn
Yafen Zhu
Affiliation:
Department of Atmospheric Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China, E-mail: qianwh@pku.edu.cn
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Four data sets yield information about Holocene climatic change in China at different scales of space and time: (a) 120-yr ground temperature and precipitation measurements covering eastern China; (b) two NOAA 10-yr 850 hPa wind records that highlight features of data set a; (c) an 1100-year record of annual calcite accumulation on a stalagmite near Beijing, and (d) Lamb-type average wetness and temperature data from Chinese historical records back to A.D. 1470 and 1450, respectively. Dry–wet fluctuations and cold–warm oscillations are inferred using the long-term stalagmite thickness series. Quasi-70, 140, 450, and 750-yr oscillations have been detected using a wavelet transform technique. A phase relationship between temperature and precipitation oscillations has been identified based on modern observations and historical records. In northern China, relatively lower temperatures correlate with periods when precipitation shifted from above to below normal. Three colder periods during the Little Ice Age (LIA) in China are inferred, centered in the late 14th century (750-yr oscillation), the early 17th century (450-yr), and the 19th century (140-yr). The latest cool period (1950s–1970s) is found at the 70-yr oscillation. Interdecadal drought–flood and cold–warm differences are explained using modern circulation patterns. LIA climate in China was likely controlled by East Asian monsoon circulation anomalies that were affected by variations in continent–ocean thermal contrast.

Keywords

ChinaLittle Ice Age climatestalagmite thicknesshistorical record
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 57 , Issue 1 , January 2002 , pp. 109 - 119
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bradley, R.S., and Jones, P.D. When was the “Little Ice Age”?. Mikami, T. Proceedings of the International Symposium on the Little Ice Age climate. (1992). Tokyo Metropolitan UniversityDepartment of Geography, 1–4.Google Scholar
Atlas of Flood and Drought in China in the Last 500 years. (1982). Map Press, Beijing.Google Scholar
Dreybrodt, W. (1996). Chemical kinetics, speleothem growth and climate.. In Proceeding of the Conference Climate Change: The Karst Record, pp. 23–25. Bergen, August.Google Scholar
Gao, W., and Li, B.L. Wavelet analysis of coherent structure at the atmosphere-forest interface. Journal of Applied Meteorology 32, (1993). 1717–1719.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jiang, J., Zhang, D., and Fraedrich, K. Historical climate variability of wetness in East China (960–1992): A wavelet analysis. International Journal of Climatology 17, (1997). 968–981.3.0.CO;2-B>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kalnay, E. The NCEP/NCAR 40-year reanalysis project. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 77, (1996). 437–471.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koichiro, T. An analysis of long-term variation of storm damage in Japan. Ye, D., and Fu, C. The Climate of China and Global climate. (1987). China Ocean Press and Springer-Verlag, Beijing. 13–19.Google Scholar
Lamb, H.H. Climate, Present, Past and Future. (1977). Methuen, London.Google Scholar
Lamb, H.H. Some studies of the Little Ice Age of recent centuries. Morner, N.A., and Karlén, W. Climatic Changes on a Yearly to Millennial Basis. (1984). Reidel, Dordrecht. 309–330.Google Scholar
Lorenz, E. N. (1956). Empirical orthogonal functions and statistical weather prediction. MIT, Dept. of Meteorology, Science Report 1.Google Scholar
Morlet, G.A., Fourgeau, I., and Giard, D. Wave propagation and sampling theory. Geophysics 47, (1982). 203–236.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Porter, S.C. Pattern and forcing of Northern Hemisphere glacier variations during the last millennium. Quaternary Research 26, (1986). 27–48.Google Scholar
Qian, W.H., Zhu, Y.F., and Ye, Q. Interannual and interdecadal variabilities in SST anomaly over the eastern equatorial Pacific. Chinese Science Bulletin 44, (1999). 568–571.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Qian, W.H., and Zhu, Y.F. Climate change in China from 1880 to 1998 and its impact on the environmental condition. Climatic Change 50, (2001). 419–444.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Qin, X., Tan, M., Liu, T., Wang, X., Li, T., and Lu, J. Spectral analysis of a 1000-year stalagmite lamina-thickness record from Shihua Cavern, Beijing, China, and its climatic significance. The Holocene 9, (1999). 689–694.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richman, M.B. Review article: Rotation of principal components. Journal of Climatology 6, (1986). 293–355.Google Scholar
Song, J. Changes in dryness/wetness in China during the last 529 years. International Journal of Climatology 20, (2000). 1003–1015.Google Scholar
Wang, B. Interdecadal changes in El Niño onset in the last four decades. Journal of Climate 8, (1995). 267–285.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, S.W. Climate of the Little Ice Age in China. Mikami, T. Proceedings of the International Symposium on the Little Ice Age Climate. (1992). Tokyo Metropolitan UniversityDepartment of Geography, 116–121.Google Scholar
Wang, S.W., Ye, J., Gong, D., and Zhu, J. Construction of mean annual temperature series for the last one hundred years in China. Quarterly Journal of Applied Meteorology 9, (1998). 392–401.Google Scholar
Wigley, T.M.L., Ingram, M.J., and Farmer, G. Climate and history. Studies in past climates and their impact on man. (1981). Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Ye, J.L., Chen, Z.H., Gong, D.Y., and Wang, S.-W. Characteristics of seasonal precipitation anomalies in China for 1880–1996. Quarterly Journal of Applied Meteorology 9, (1998). 57–64.Google Scholar
Zhang, D. The method for reconstruction of the dryness/wetness series in China for the last 500 years and its reliability. Zhang, J. The Reconstruction of climate in China for historical times. (1988). Science Press, Beijing. 18–30.Google Scholar