Tree-ring indicators of winter-spring temperature in Central China over the past 200 years

Long-term, high-resolution proxy records containing temperature signals are relatively scarce over Central China, limiting our understanding of regional climate and the potential driving forces. In this study, a robust tree-ring width chronology is developed based on Pinus massoniana woods from two sites on the northeast Wuling Mountains, spanning from 1815 to 2014. The presented chronology is used to reconstruct regional longterm winter-spring (January-May) temperature changes over the past two centuries in Central China. The reconstruction reveals that cold epochs occurred in 1830 s-1840 s, 1850 s-1860 s, 1900 s-1910 s and 1960 s-1970 s. The correlation patterns between the reconstruction and global sea surface temperature (SST) are suggestive of the influence of SST of the western North Pacific Ocean (especially the Japan Current region) and the North Atlantic Ocean on regional temperature. In addition, persistent close matches are observed between the chronology and the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) reconstructions over the past two centuries, suggesting the AMO may have been a key modulator of long-term temperature variations over Central China.