Reconstruction of Spring-Summer Maximum Temperatures Based on a Regional Chronology (1750-2010) in the Western Ridge of Central Zagros, Iran

جغرافیا و مخاطرات محیطی

Article 3, Volume 1, Issue 4, January 2013, Pages 51-64   

Document Type: Research Article

DOI: 10.22067/geo.v1i4.20199

Authors

Ghasem Azizi^{* 1}; Mohsen Arsalani¹; Ezzat Arsalani²; Reza Safai rad³

¹Tehran University

²University Of Tehran

³University of Tehran

Abstract

Introduction
Long-term climate records are valuable for environmental planning, and tree rings allow records to extend to the time before the establishment of weather stations. For a better understanding of the past climate fluctuation and to mitigate the effect of climate fluctuation, dendroclimatic reconstructions have been applied in many parts of the world. Inter annual variations of climate have an intensive effect on water resources, agriculture, human settlements and regional ecosystems. The central Zagros region of Iran experiences different climatic situations over the seasons of a year. In recent years, dramatic changes in regional climate have damaged both local forests and agriculture. Weather stations cover a short time span of instrumental data in Iran. To overcome this challenge, tree rings can be used to put recent climate trends in a long-term context of climate variability. The central Zagros Mountains are one of the most important sites of oak forest in west of Iran. However, tree-ring based climate reconstructions are still scarce for this country. In this study, we present a reconstruction of temperature variations in the central Zagros Mountains using Quercus infectoria and Quercus persica tree rings over the last 250 years (1750-2010).
Material and Methods
The study sites are located in the central Zagros Mountain range in the west of Iran. Due to the climatic regime, there is a clear distinction between a dry (summer) and a wet (winter-spring) season in this region. Our sampling sites are covered by old-growth oak forests and have the shortest distance to meteorological stations. In this study 54 cores from two species of Quercus persica in Dalab site (Ilam province) and Q. infectoria Olive in Shineh site (Lorestan province) were extracted using an increment borer. After the sample preparation, annual ring widths were measured with a LINTAB5 measuring system. The TSAP-Win software was used for cross dating and correlations between the growth corves. The growth corves were standardized with ARSTAN program to remove none climatic effects. The Expressed Population Signal (EPS; Wigley et al, 1995) was calculated for the regional chronology (RC). Monthly and seasonal maximum temperature from Ilam (1987-2010) and Khoramabad (1951-2010) weather stations were used to calibrate the regional chronology (1750-2010) during the common period (1951-2010). Based on a linear regression model, seasonal maximum temperature of spring-summer was reconstructed over the 1840-2010 period.
Results and Discussion
The results of the study show that the two site chronologies are strongly correlated with each other (p

Keywords

Regional chronology; oak; Interannual variations; Tree rings; Dendroclimatology

References

Abasi, F., Asmari, M., Arabshahi, H., (2011). Climate change assessment over Zagros during 2010-2039 by using statistical downscaling of ECHO-G model. Environmental Research Journal 5, 149-155. DOI: 10.3923/erj.2011.149.155.

Akkemik, U., (2009). Dendroclimatology in the Near East. The International Symposium on Climate Change and Dendrochronology in Caspian Ecosystems, Sari-Iran.

Arsalani, M., (2012). Reconstruction of precipitation and temperature variations using Oak tree rings in the central Zagros. M.A. Dissertation. University of Tehran, Faculty of Geography, Tehran. Iran.

Arsalani, M., (2012). Reconstruction of annual maximum temperature and October-May precipitation Based on tree rings in Lorestan province, Iran. 3rd Symposium on Climate Change & Dendrochronology – 16-18 May 2012, Sari-Iran.

Arsalani, M., Azizi, GH., KhoshAkhlagh, F., (2012). Reconstruction of maximum temperature variations in Kermanshah province using tree rings. Iranian Journal of Geography and Environmental hazards 1, 97-110.

Asakereh, H., (2007). Climate change. Zanjan University Press.

Azizi, Gh., (2004). Climate change. Ghoomes Press,. Tehran.

Azizi, GH., (2004). The relationship between recent drought and groundwater resources in the Qazvin plain. Physical Geography Research Quarterly 46, 131-143.

Azizi, GH., Arsalani, M., Yamani, M., (2012). Reconstruction of October-May precipitation variations based on tree rings in Kermanshah city over the 1705-2010 periods. Iranian Journal of Physical Geography Research Quarterly 79, 37-53.

Azizi, GH., Arsalani, M., Bräuning, A., Moghimi., E., (2013). Precipitation variations in the central Zagros Mountains (Iran) since A.D. 1840 based on Oak tree rings. Journal of Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology (In press).

Azizi, GH., Shamipour, A., Yarahmadi, D., (2008). Retrieval of climate change using multivariate statistical analysis in the central west of Iran. Iranian Journal of Physical Geography Research Quarterly 66, 19-35.

Bao, G., Liu, Y., Linderholm, H.W., (2012). April–September mean maximum temperature inferred from Hailar pine (Pinussylvestris var. mongolica) tree rings in the Hulunbuir region, Inner Mongolia, back to 1868 AD. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 313-314, 162–172.

Bräuning, A., (2006). Tree-ring evidence of ‘Little Ice Age’ glacier advances in southern Tibet. Holocene 16 (3), 369–380.

Cook, E.R., (1985). A time-series analysis approach to tree-ring standardization. Ph.D. Dissertation. The University of Arizona Press, Tucson.

Fan, Z.X., Bräuning, A., Tian, Q.H., Yang, B., Cao, K.F., (2010). Tree ring recorded May–August temperature variations since A.D. 1585 in the Gaoligong Mountains, southeastern Tibetan Plateau. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 296, 94–102.

Flower, A., Smith, D.J., (2011). A dendroclimatic reconstruction of June–July mean temperature in the northern Canadian Rocky Mountains. Dendrochronologia, 29, 55–63.

Jacoby, G., Solomina, O., Frank, D., Eremenko, N., Arrigo, R.D., (2004). Kunashir (Kuriles) Oak 400-year reconstruction of temperature and relation to the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 209, 303-311.

Hosseinzadeh, S.R., Jahaditoroghi, M., 2012. Reconstruction of past floods in Sehezar River, Tonkabon (Iran) based on dendrogeomorphology. Iranian Journal of Geography and Environmental hazards 2, 29-53

IPCC, (2007). Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment. Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Solomon, S., D. Qin, M. Manning, Z. Chen, M. Marquis, K.B. Averyt, M. Tignor and H.L. Miller). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA.

Karamzadeh, S., Pourbabai, H., Torkaman, J., (2010). Climate-growth response of Quercus Inferctoria in Saravan Region, Gilan. Iranian Journal of Forest and Poplar Research 19, 15-26.

Kose, N., Akkemik, U., Dalfes, H.N., Ozeren, M.M., (2011). Tree-ring reconstructions of May–June precipitation for western Anatolia. Quaternary Research -03177.

Kousari, M.R., Ekhtesasi, M.R., Tazeh, M., Naeini, M.A., Zarch, M.A., (2012). An investigation of the Iranian climatic changes by considering the precipitation, temperature, and relative humidity parameters. Theoretical and Applied Climatology 103, 321–335.

Liu, J., Yang, B., Qin, C., (2011). A Tree-ring based annual precipitation reconstruction since AD 1480 in south central Tibet. Quaternary International 236, 75-81.

Maxime, C., Hendrik, D., (2011). Effects of climate on diameter growth of co-occurring Fagussylvatica and Abies Alba along an altitudinal gradient. Trees, 25, 265-276.

Najafi, F., Pourtahmasi, K., Karimi, A., (2010). Dendroclimatology Investigation of Quercus Infectoria in the West of Iran. The First Iranian Conference on Natural Resources Research, Sanandaj, Iran.

Pourtahmasi, K., Bräuning, A., Poursartip, L., Burchardt, I., (2012). Growth-climate responses of oak and juniper trees in different exposures of the Alborz Mountains, northern Iran. TRACE 10, 49-53.

Sano, M., Furuta, F., Kobayashi, O., Sweda, T., (2005). Temperature variations since the mid-18th century for western Nepal, as reconstructed from tree-ring width and density of Abiesspectabilis. Dendrochronologia, 23, 83–92.

Stokes, M.A., Smiley, T.L., (1968). An Introduction to Tree-Ring Dating. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

Touchan, R,. Akkemik, Ü., Hughes, K., Erkan , Nesat., (2007). May–June precipitation reconstruction of southwestern Anatolia, Turkey during the last 900 years from tree rings. Journal of Quaternary Research 68, 196–202.

Touchan, R., Shishov, V., Meko, D., Nouiri, I., Grachev, A., (2012). Process based model sheds light on climate sensitivity of Mediterranean tree-ring width. Biogeosciences 9, 965-972.

Wigley, T., Briffa, K.R., Jones, P.D., (1984). On the average value of correlated time series, with applications in dendroclimatology and hydrometeorology. Journal of Applied Meteorology, 23, 201-213.

Youngblut, D., Luckman, B., (2006). Maximum June–July temperatures in the southwest Yukon over the last 300 yearsreconstructed from tree rings. Denrochronologia, 25, 153–166.