The potential of using tree-ring chronology from the southern coast of Korea to reconstruct the climate of subtropical Western North Pacific: A pilot study

Abstract:

Assessment of past climate variability over subtropical East Asia prior to observational records is an essential task. Tree-ring width (TRW) chronologies have successfully been used as climate proxies to infer climate variabilities over the past several hundreds to thousands of years for many places in the world. However, the data is scarce over parts of subtropical East Asia, especially the Korean Peninsula. In this pilot study, Korean red pine (Pinus densiflora) TRW chronologies from Mt. Mudeung and Mt. Wolchul, located on the southern coast of the Korean Peninsula in the proximity of the Kuroshio Current, were developed and their local to large-scale climatic responses were investigated. Mt. Mudeung TRW had positive correlations with local temperature in preceding December and April. Mt. Wolchul TRW had positive correlations with temperature in preceding December and most of growing season months and with precipitation in February and October. In large-scale, both TRWs retained East-Asian scale temperature and monsoon signals as well. Furthermore, there were oceanic signals of them with preceding December to April sea surface temperature over the Western North Pacific. The results suggest that subtropical trees from South Korea can be used as climate proxy to infer the past long-term not only local but also large-scale climate variability over the East Asia and the Western North Pacific such as the East Asian summer monsoon, the Kuroshio Current, the Western North Pacific Subtropical High, and El Niño–Southern Oscillation.