藏南羊卓雍错沉积物元素地球化学记录的过去2000年环境变化

以青藏高原南部的羊卓雍错（简称羊湖）沉积岩芯为研究对象,以较可靠的年代数据（ ²¹⁰Pb和AMS ¹⁴C交叉定年）为框架,基于高分辨率的元素地球化学记录,通过数理统计分析方法提取环境信息,结合粒度和磁化率,重建该地区过去2000年来的环境变化。结果显示,该区黑暗时代冷期（DCAP）和小冰期（LIA）气候较为寒冷,降水量较高;而中世纪暖期（MWP）和现代暖期（CWP）气候较为温暖,降水量较低,气候具有冷湿—暖干的特征。其中,重建的温度显示,中世纪暖期的温暖程度似乎持平甚至超过20世纪暖期;小冰期期间可能存在一次百年尺度的温暖事件,而17世纪和18世纪可能是过去2000中最寒冷的一段时期。分析发现,过去2000年以来青藏高原南部存在着冷湿—暖干的气候模式;过去2000年青藏高原南部地区温度的变化可能主要受到太阳辐射的影响,而小冰期期间西风环流的南移和增强可能是导致区域降水增加的重要因素。另外,该时期羊湖的湖泊水位的变化受温度和降水共同控制：当温度降低,降水增加时,湖泊水位上升,反之亦然。     

Recent ecological responses to climate variability and human impacts in the Nianbaoyeze Mountains (eastern Tibetan Plateau) inferred from pollen,diatom and tree-ring data

The Tibetan Plateau is a region that is highly sensitive to recent global warming, but the complexity and heterogeneity of its mountainous landscape can result in variable responses. In addition, the scarcity and brevity of regional instrumental and palaeoecological records still hamper our understanding of past and present patterns of environmental change. To investigate how the remote, high-alpine environments of the Nianbaoyeze Mountains, eastern Tibetan Plateau, are affected by climate change and human activity over the last ~600 years, we compared regional tree-ring studies with pollen and diatom remains archived in the dated sediments of Dongerwuka Lake (33.22°N, 101.12°E, 4,307 m a.s.l.). In agreement with previous studies from the eastern Tibetan Plateau, a strong coherence between our two juniper-based tree-ring chronologies from the Nianbaoyeze and the Anemaqin Mountains was observed, with pronounced cyclical variations in summer temperature reconstructions. A positive directional trend to warmer summer temperatures in the most recent decades, was, however, not observed in the tree-ring record. Likewise, our pollen and diatom spectra showed minimal change over the investigated time period. Although modest, the most notable change in the diatom relative abundances was a subtle decrease in the dominant planktonic Cyclotella ocellata and a concurrent increase in small, benthic fragilarioid taxa in the ~1820s, suggesting higher ecosystem variability. The pollen record subtly indicates three periods of increased cattle grazing activity (~1400–1480 AD, ~1630–1760 AD, after 1850 AD), but shows generally no significant vegetation changes during past ~600 years. The minimal changes observed in the tree-ring, diatom and pollen records are consistent with the presence of localised cooling centres that are evident in instrumental and tree-ring data within the southeastern and eastern Tibetan Plateau. Given the minor changes in regional temperature records, our complacent palaeoecological profiles suggest that climatically induced ecological thresholds have not yet been crossed in the Nianbaoyeze Mountains region.     

青藏高原不同时段气候变化的研究综述

1 Introduction The annual mean world temperature increased by about 0.6℃ from the late 1800s to the 1980s (Wang, 1994). The global environmental change is marked with “global warming” and its possible effects on the ecosystem as well as the production …     

青藏高原南部南木林地区树木径向生长对气候因子的响应

树木年轮定年准确、连续性强、分辨率高,并且易于获取复本,已经成为过去气候变化重建的主要手段之一。通过分析青藏高原南部南木林地区大果圆柏的树木年轮宽度变化及其对气候因子的响应,发现树木生长季前期的温度与树木径向生长变化呈正相关关系,而夏季温度与树木径向生长呈负相关关系;年总降水量（上年7月到当年6月）是当地树木径向生长的主要限制因子,相关系数为0.66（P<0.01）,表明南木林地区树轮宽度变化可以指示该地区年总降水量变化。南木林树轮年表（1560—2008年）的突变检验结果显示,该年表在年代际尺度上存在1627年和1829年左右的突变点,表明南木林地区降水量在过去499 a间经历了两次突变。对树木年轮标准化年表的功率谱分析表明,南木林树轮记录具有150 a、100 a、75 a、60 a、50 a以及3.7 a 和3.06 a的显著周期,其中3.7 a和3.06 a周期可能与ENSO有关。     

40 kaBP来亚非季风演化趋势及青藏高原泛湖期

基于18个黄土/古土壤序列 (黄土高原与青藏高原) 与27个湖泊沉积序列 (青藏高原、新疆、云南与赤道非洲及其以北的非洲季风区) 对比分析了东亚季风区、印度季风区与非洲季风区40 ka以来的区域环境演变特征。结果显示：上述区域在对应岁差周期的高太阳辐射阶段,也就是40~24 kaBP与14~4 kaBP分别经历了一次环境湿润期,而在末次冰期最盛期,除中国云南、青藏高原及新疆部分地区外,其他地区则较为干燥。青藏高原及其北侧的新疆区,40~24 kaBP比14~4 kaBP气候更为湿润,湖泊呈现40 ka以来的最高最大湖面,高原进入一次泛湖期。而非洲区及黄土高原,则与此相反;14~4 kaBP气候比40~24 kaBP更为湿润、适宜,湖面更高,成壤作用更强。40~24 kaBP,印度季风强盛,加强了对高原的水汽与潜热输送,同时,由于北方冰盖的存在,西风气流则相对南移,增加了对高原的影响,两种气流交互作用引起的强降水,可能是造成湖泊显著扩张的主要原因。     

High-resolution analyses of recent sediments from a Norwegian mountain lake and comparison with instrumental records of climate

The purpose of the palaeolimnological research project carried out at Øvre Neådalsvatn was to apply a number of physical and biological proxy-climate analyses to recent sediments and to compare the results of these analyses with instrumental records of climate. Using a radiometric chronology to match the sediment core with the calendar ages of the reconstructed instrumental record, and by time-averaging the instrumental record, the statistical significance of the relationships between each of the sediment-climate proxies and the reconstructed instrumental-climate measurements were evaluated.Acid deposition at Øvre Neådalsvatn has been low and its impact limited. Whilst there has been an overall rise in mean annual temperature of about 1 °C since 1900, the physical and biological sediment records studied appear to be insensitive to climate warming of this magnitude. On the one hand, this may be a result of the loss in temporal resolution caused by time-averaging the instrumental data; on the other hand, the lake may be insensitive to the impact of this climate change.     

青藏高原不同时段气候变化的研究综述

综述了近年来通过冰芯、树轮、湖泊沉积等记录对青藏高原不同时段气候变化研究取得的成果．并特别着重于末次间冰期以来青藏高原的气候变化特征。在末次间冰期．青藏高原气候变化剧烈,降温迅速升温缓慢;末次冰期温度变化与格陵兰冰芯记录具有较好一致性,同时也具有高原的独特性;新仙女木事件发生时间与欧洲和格陵兰冰芯的记录基本一致;全新世总体比较温暖;近2000年来温度变化在波动中逐渐上升;近代温度有加速升高的趋势。总体上青藏高原各种尺度上的气候变化要早于我国其它地区．变化的幅度也较大。     

青藏高原东北部共和盆地末次冰消期以来古植被和环境演变(英文)

Paleoenvironmental history in the monsoonal margin in the northeast Tibetan Pla-teau provides important clue to the regional climate. Previous researches have been limited by either poor chronology or low resolution. Here we present a high-resolution pollen record from a 40.92-m-long sediment core (DLH) taken from Dalianhai, a terminal lake situated in the Gonghe Basin, the northeast Tibetan Plateau for reconstructing the vegetation and climate history since the last deglacial on the basis of a chronology controlled by 10 AMS 14C dates on plant remains preserved in the core sediments. The pollen assemblages in DLH core can be partitioned into 6 pollen zones and each zone is mainly characterized by the growth and decline of tree or herb pollen percentage. During the periods of 14.8-12.9 ka and 9.4-3.9 ka, the subalpine arboreal and local herbaceous pollen increased, indicating the subalpine forest developed in the surrounding mountains and a desert steppe or typical steppe developed in Gonghe Basin under a relatively moister climate. During the periods of 15.8-14.8 ka, 12.9-9.4 ka and 3.9-1.4 ka, the forest shrank or disappeared according to different degrees of aridity, and the desert steppe degraded to a more arid steppe desert in the basin, indicating a dry climate. After 1.4 ka, vegetation type around Dalianhai was mainly dominated by steppe suggested by increased Artemisia. Our results suggested the climate history in this region was dry from 15.8-14.8 ka, humid from 14.8-12.9 ka and dry from 12.9-9.4 ka, after which the climate was humid during 9.4-3.9 ka, followed by dry conditions during 3.9-1.4 ka and humid conditions in the last 1.4 ka. The change of pollen percentage and the evolution of palaeovegetation in Dalianhai since the last deglacial were similar to those recorded in Qinghai Lake. The forest expanded in the mountains around Dalianhai during the B?l-ling-Aller?d period, shrank during the Younger Dryas and the early Holocene, then it devel-oped and reached its maximum in the mid-Holocene. During the late Holocene, the vegetation began to shrink till disappearance. However, the timing of forest expansion in the Holocene lagged behind that of Qinghai Lake, and this spatial heterogeneity was probably caused by the different forest species between these two places. The maximum of forest development in the mid-Holocene was inconsistent with the period of stronger summer monsoon in the early Holocene indicated by stalagmite records, the reason might be related to the complexity of vegetation response to a large-scale climatic change.     

中国中世纪气候异常期温度的多尺度变化特征及区域差异

中世纪气候异常期（MCA,约950-1250年）是地球气候变化史上距今最近的长达数百年的典型温暖气候阶段,因此常被作为研究温暖气候及其影响与适应问题的主要历史相似型而备受瞩目。综合利用近年所发表的长度超过千年的中国4个区域（东北、西北、东中、青藏高原）高分辨率气候变化重建结果,结合历史文献的冷暖记载,采用集合经验模态分解的方法,对MCA期间中国温度的年代—多年代—百年尺度波动特征及其区域差异进行了分析。结果显示：从全国总体看,尽管在12世纪中后期存在数十年的相对冷谷,但在百年尺度上,10-13世纪是过去2000年中持续时间最长的显著暖期,且这一温暖期的起讫时间和温暖程度存在区域差异。各个区域温度变化序列的集合经验模态分解表明：在准30年尺度上,950-1130年间中国区域的温度波动位相基本同步;但在其后的1130-1250年,各区温度波动幅度变小,也存在位相差异。在准百年尺度上,各个区域均自10世纪前期起显著转暖,在MCA期间总体温暖背景下,出现2次冷波动;但除西北与东中部在整个MCA期间的百年尺度温度变化基本同步外,东北和青藏高原地区在MCA期间与其他区域存在显著的波动位相差异,且其温暖气候结束时间也较西北与东中部早40~50年。在百年以上尺度的趋势变化上,东北部和东中部2个区域均显示MCA和其后出现的小冰期（LIA）2个阶段温度差别较显著,而西北、青藏高原2个区域则均显示MCA和LIA的阶段温度差别不大。综合各种尺度的波动特征显示：MCA温暖程度在东中部与20世纪相当,在东北部较20世纪略低,在西北和青藏高原则显著低于20世纪。     

1854-2010年川西高原北部初夏气温变化与全球海表温度关系初探

本文利用主成分分析法提取了川西高原北部5个样点反映气温变化的树轮宽度年表的主成分年表,其中第一主成分年表(PC1)的方差贡献率为59.52%,能够较好地代表川西高原北部地区树轮宽度变化的共同特征。在器测时段内(1961-2010年),PC1年表、6-7月区域平均气温观测序列与东亚气温场的相关分布较为一致,均与中国的西北-青藏高原一带以及西伯利亚东部呈现显著的正相关(r > 0.443,p < 0.001),表明PC1年表能够反映较大空间范围的气温变化特征。器测时期,PC1年表和观测序列与全球海温场的相关分析表明,两者均与西太平洋、印度洋及北大西洋海域显著正相关,反映了在海气相互作用过程中多个海区海表温度变化可能对研究区气温变化有一定影响;而利用PC1年表在更长时间尺度(1854-2010年)及分阶段分析则发现不同阶段对区域气温起主导作用的海区有比较明显的差异,甚至在比较大的空间范围内在不同阶段出现相反的分布型,且由相关系数反映出的海气相互作用强度也具有显著的差异,气温波动较大时,海气相互作用也比较强烈。异常年分析则反映出西北太平洋和北大西洋海温异常对研究区气温异常具有持续稳定的影响。     

Comparisons of borehole temperature–depth profiles and surface air temperatures in the northern plains of the USA

Temperature–depth profiles measured in boreholes contain a record of temperature changes at the Earth's surface. The degree to which these profiles and surface air temperature records track each other is quantitatively assessed for the northern plains of the USA. Surface air temperature records are used as a forcing function to generate synthetic transient temperature profiles which are compared with transient temperatures derived from borehole temperature–depth data. These comparisons indicate that surface air and ground temperatures are correlated. Furthermore, these comparisons yield a long-term mean temperature tied to the meteorological record which provides a context for interpreting contemporary warming trends. Our results indicate that warming recorded in surface air temperature time series represents a positive departure above baseline temperature estimates.     

Global and regional changes of climate: Causes,consequences and adaptation of the economic activities

This paper is concerned with some debatable issues related to assessments of the role played by greenhouse gases and aerosols in the formation of seasonal patterns of temperature change in the northern and southern hemispheres as well as of air temperature across the territory of Belarus. It is shown that the periods of low aerosol pollution of the atmosphere coincide with high summer temperatures in the region. A warming period of the 1930s–early 1940s in the northern hemisphere (in the Arctic) was also observed during a warm season. In recent years when aerosol pollution has decreased, the growth rate of summer temperatures has increased; the temperature rise during a cold period became comparable to that observed during a warm period. In terms of the theory of greenhouse warming of the climate system, however, the temperature rise must be more pronounced in a cold season. Over the last 15–16 years, global temperature, remaining the highest for the period of instrumental observations, has not been increasing, whereas carbon dioxide content in the atmosphere has increased by more than 30%. A detailed study is made of the consequences of the forecasted climate warming in climate-dependent sectors of the economy. It is concluded that there is a need to work out multivariant adaptation measures in view of the uncertainty of existing knowledge regarding the causes for climate change, and because of the large spread in scenario-based assessments of future climate changes.     

采用高山松最大密度重建川西高原近百年夏季气温

川西高原高山松树轮宽度及最大密度分析结果表明,最大密度年表和宽度年表中可提取的气候信息是不同的,在温暖、水分条件适中的地区,采用树木密度指标分析气候要素的变化是有效的途径。树轮宽度主要受5月降水影响,和西南季风活动有关;而最大密度主要指示了夏季(6￣9月)温度。利用转换函数重建了川西高原近百年来夏季(6￣9月)温度,重建序列的方差解释量为51%,(F=52.099,p<0.0001)。重建序列显示川西高原,30年代之前为偏冷期,30年代到60年代为偏暖期,与四川地区近百年的冷暖时期比较一致。与平原地区的成都相比,高原的升温转折点提前3年,表明高原地区对气温变化的响应更为敏感,川西高原地区可能是四川省气候变化的先兆地区。1983年以后川西高原地区夏季温度呈明显的上升趋势,20世纪90年代夏季温度的滑动平均为近百年的最大值,但在90年代初期仍处于均值线以下,表现为凉夏;90年代后半期表现为夏旱。     

MODIS BRDF/Albedo数据在中国温度模拟中的应用

地表反照率直接影响地表辐射平衡,进而改变当地温度(2 m气温,下同),然后还可能通过大气平流过程影响下游地区的温度。为揭示利用实时更新的地表反照率替换WRF (Weather Research and Forecasting) 模式的静态地表反照率对中国大陆温度模拟结果的影响,本文进行了两组为期6 年(2002-2007 年) 的连续积分试验：控制试验(CT试验) 采用短波波段地表反照率,取自WRF模式推荐的地表参数数据集;敏感试验(MD试验) 采用分波段的(可见光和近红外) 地表反照率,取自MODIS BRDF/Albedo数据产品。试验结果表明,CT试验能够模拟中国温度的基本空间格局,但是模拟温度相对于观测温度有明显偏差,青藏高原南部的模拟温度偏低(负偏差),最大偏低幅度为1.03oC,出现在秋季,东部地区的模拟温度偏高(正偏差),最大偏高幅度达3.4oC,出现在春季;MD试验模拟结果的正、负偏差格局与CT试验基本相似,但是与CT试验相比,MD试验模拟的青藏高原南部温度的负偏差更大,最大为1.32oC,而模拟的东部地区温度的正偏差明显减小,最大为2.97oC,这说明MD试验比CT试验模拟的温度普遍偏低。在青藏高原,这主要归因于MD试验比CT试验的地表反照率大,使得地表净辐射少,地表感热少,致使温度偏低;在中国东部的黄淮海至江南丘陵区,这主要归因于MD试验中北方蒙古高原的地表反照率比CT试验的大,使得MD试验中该地区的地表净辐射少,地表感热少,温度低,然后通过南下冷平流过程致使位于其下游的黄淮海至江南丘陵区温度降低。     

Summer Moisture Variability in East Central Sweden Since the Mid-Eighteenth Century Recorded in Tree Rings

To make predictions of future climate it is necessary to understand the past climate—temperature as well as precipitation. While a wealth of temperature proxies exist from northern latitudes, there is still a lack of information about past precipitation variability. Here we present a 300‐year‐long tree‐ring width chronology from xeric‐site Scots pines (Pinus sylvestris L.) in Tyresta National Park, east central Sweden. Tree‐ring widths were compared to the long observed temperature and precipitation records from Stockholm during 1786–2000. Analyses of the climate/growth relationship showed that, in general, May–June precipitation had a dominating influence on pine growth. However, during dry periods, negative responses to June–July temperature were stronger, especially evident in the late nineteenth century. Periods of below‐average growth were associated with dry conditions in May–June, but occasionally periods of wet and cool summers also produced narrow rings. Periods of above‐average growth were linked to wet, but sporadically also cool and dry, early summers. The years between 1815 and 1833 appear to be particularly dry in the 300‐year context. Since growth anomalies are found in other Swedish drought‐sensitive tree‐ring chronologies during this period, it is likely that this dry period had a regional extent. This is the first tree‐ring chronology from southern Sweden that provides multi‐century information of past summer drought and moisture variability with high resolution and the study will add important information regarding past climate variability in southern Sweden.     

Reconstruction of summer temperature variation from maximum density of alpine pine during 1917?2002 for west Sichuan Plateau, China

Having analyzed the tree ring width and maximum latewood density of Pinus den-sata from west Sichuan, we obtained different climate information from tree-ring width and maximum latewood density chronology. The growth of tree ring width was responded princi-pally to the precipitation in current May, which might be influenced by the activity of southwest monsoon, whereas the maximum latewood density reflected summer temperature (June–September). According to the correlation relationship, a transfer function had been used to reconstruct summer temperature for the study area. The explained variance of re-construction is 51% (F=52.099, p<0.0001). In the reconstruction series: before the 1930s, the climate was relatively cold, and relatively warm from 1930 to 1960, this trend was in accor-dance with the cold-warm period of the last 100 years, west Sichuan. Compared with Chengdu, the warming break point in west Sichuan is 3 years ahead of time, indicating that the Tibetan Plateau was more sensitive to temperature change. There was an evident sum-mer warming signal after 1983. Although the last 100-year running average of summer tem-perature in the 1990s was the maximum, the running average of the early 1990s was below the average line and it was cold summer, but summer drought occurred in the late 1990s.     

Paleolimnological evidence of the response of the central Canadian treeline zone to radiative forcing and hemispheric patterns of temperature change over the past 2000 years

Instrumental climate records from the central Canadian treeline zone display a pattern of variation similar to general Northern Hemisphere temperature trends. To examine whether this general correspondence extends back beyond the instrumental record, we obtained a sediment core from Lake S41, a small lake in the Northwest Territories of Canada at 63°43.11′ N, 109°19.07′ W. A radiocarbon-based chronology was developed for the core. The sediments were analyzed for organic-matter content by loss-on-ignition (LOI), biogenic-silica content (BSi), and chironomid community composition to reconstruct July air temperature and summer water temperature. The paleolimnological records were compared with records of atmospheric CO₂ concentration, solar variability, and hemispheric temperature variations over the past 2000 years. The results of the analyses suggest that widely-documented long-term variations in Northern Hemisphere temperature associated with radiative forcing, namely the cooling following the medieval period during the Little Ice Age (LIA), and twentieth century warming, are represented in the central Canadian treeline zone. There is also evidence of a brief episode of warming during the eighteenth century. As evidenced by LOI and BSi, the twentieth century warming is typified by increased lake productivity relative to the LIA. Depending upon the measure, the increased productivity of the twentieth century nearly equals or exceeds that of any other period in the past 2000 years. In contrast, the rate of chironomid head capsule accumulation decreased and remained low during the twentieth century. Although the chironomid-inferred temperature reconstructions indicate cooling during the LIA, they present no evidence of greatly increased temperatures during the twentieth century. Warming during the twentieth century might have enhanced lake stratification, and the response of the chironomid fauna to warming was attenuated by decreased oxygen and lower temperatures in the hypolimnion of the more stratification-prone lake.

Declining Precipitation Enhances the Effect of Warming on Phenological Variation in a Semiarid Tibetan Meadow Steppe

Vegetation phenology is a sensitive indicator of global warming, especially on the Tibetan Plateau. However, whether climate warming has enhanced the advance of grassland phenology since 2000 remains debated and little is known about the warming effect on semiarid grassland phenology and interactions with early growing season precipitation. In this study, we extracted phenological changes from average NDVI in the growing season (GNDVI) to analyze the relationship between changes in NDVI, phenology and climate in the Northern Tibetan Damxung grassland from 2000 to 2014. The GNDVI of the grassland declined. Interannual variation of GNDVI was mainly affected by mean temperature from late May to July and precipitation from April to August. The length of the growing season was significantly shortened due to a delay in the beginning of the growing season and no advancement of the end of the growing season, largely caused by climate warming and enhanced by decreasing precipitation in spring. Water availability was the major determinant of grass growth in the study area. Warming increased demand for water when the growth limitation of temperature to grass was exceeded in the growing season. Decreased precipitation likely further exacerbated the effect of warming on vegetation phenology in recent decades due to increasing evapotranspiration and water limitations. The comprehensive effects of global warming and decreasing precipitation may delay the phenological responses of semiarid alpine grasslands.     

2009-2015年国际青藏高原研究文献计量分析——基于SCIE和ESI数据

青藏高原及其周边地区以独特的自然地理环境和复杂的地质构造,及其对全球环境和气候变化不可忽视的影响,长期以来一直受到国际科学家的关注。本文以SCIE和ESI数据库为数据源,检索2009-2015年间上述数据库报道的青藏高原及其周边地区研究文献及其引用情况,通过文献计量方法,采用多种分析工具,从多个角度对青藏高原及其周边地区研究现状与进展情况进行分析,在此基础上总结近年来国际青藏高原领域的研究态势,主要结论为：整体上近年来国际青藏高原领域研究规模和学术影响力呈现良好发展态势;研究实力上,中国、印度、美国仍稳居国家论文产出前三位,但青藏高原周边国家如巴基斯坦、尼泊尔发展较快,在机构层面上中国机构的整体优势逐渐扩大。中国的青藏高原研究呈现出量、质齐升的发展态势;青藏高原的发文期刊仍以地学、环境类期刊为主,高被引论文主要发表在高质量的综合类期刊上。青藏高原的研究学科持续完备,研究内容地域特色明显,研究主题包括青藏高原的隆升机制、高原各个圈层对全球气候变化的影响、高寒生态系统的生物多样性及对全球变暖的响应等。今后,中国青藏高原研究应着力聚焦前沿科学问题,促进多学科交叉融合,提升协同化集成化自主科研创新能力,产出具有国际影响力的重大科学成果,为“一带一路”战略实施和区域生态环境管理提供科技支撑。     

Dendrochronology in Jordan

Dendrochronology is a valuable tool for the study of past climate and increases our knowledge of climate variability beyond the short period covered by instrumental data. Two annual tree-ring width chronologies were developed for northern Jordan (Pinus halepensis and Quercus aegilops), one chronology for Carmel Mountain, Israel (Pinus halepensis), and one chronology for southern Jordan (Juniperus phoenicia). The results of our study show that the northern site chronologies are significantly correlated, but the northern and southern sites are not. A relatively high correlation was shown between October–April precipitation and a Pinus halepensis chronology, and between October–May precipitation and Quercus aegilops, both in the north. October–May precipitation was reconstructed for the time span AD 1600 to 1995 from the Juniperus phoenicia tree-ring chronology. The longest reconstructed drought, defined as consecutive years below a threshold of 80% of the 1946–1995 mean observed October–May precipitation, was 4 years, compared with 3 years for the 1946–95 instrumental data.