Little Ice Age Revealed in Tree‐Ring‐Based Precipitation Record From the Northwest Himalaya, India

The spatial and temporal span of hydrological impact of the “Little Ice Age” (LIA) in the north‐western Himalaya is not well constrained due to data limitation. We evaluated a network of tree‐ring chronologies from moisture‐stressed ecological settings in Jammu and Kashmir to identify the impact of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geophysical research letters 2021-03, Vol.48 (6), p.n/a
Main Authors: Singh, Vikram, Misra, Krishna G., Singh, Arun D., Yadav, Ram R., Yadava, Akhilesh K.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Drought
Glaciation
Hydrology
Ice ages
Jammu & Kashmir
Little Ice Age
north‐western Himalaya
Phases
Precipitation
Precipitation regime
Reconstruction
Records
River flow
Trees
tree‐ring
Wetting
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Summary:The spatial and temporal span of hydrological impact of the “Little Ice Age” (LIA) in the north‐western Himalaya is not well constrained due to data limitation. We evaluated a network of tree‐ring chronologies from moisture‐stressed ecological settings in Jammu and Kashmir to identify the impact of LIA over the western Himalaya. Our study reflects three centennial scale phases; the middle phase (1650s–1850s CE) with stable precipitation and in accordance with other hydrological records clearly demarcates the LIA impact over the Himalaya. However, high‐magnitude droughts recorded in early (1383–1650s CE) and late phases (1850s–2017) underpin that the north‐western Himalaya did not witness any LIA influence before 1650s. Plain Language Summary Here, we present a 635‐year long annual (prior year October to current year September) precipitation reconstruction from Kishtwar, Jammu and Kashmir. A network of 16 tree‐ring chronologies of Himalayan cedar and neoza pine was used in the study. The reconstruction captured three distinct phases in precipitation regime from 1383–1650s, 1650s–1850s, and 1850s–2017 CE and among these, the middle phase (1650s–1850s) showed relatively prolonged pluvial phase with consistently stable precipitation advocating for the active LIA over the western Himalaya. The other two phases reflect high‐amplitude droughts with intervening wet periods contrasting the existence of the LIA‐induced wetting. To validate the reconstruction skill and the LIA effect over the western Himalaya and Central Asia, the present record was compared with the other available precipitation, river flow and hydrological proxy records which support the LIA influenced precipitation during 1650s–1850s CE. Key Points Three distinct centennial scale phases have been identified in 635 years long precipitation record developed from the northwest Himalaya Stable precipitation during 1650s–1850s CE reveals clear evidence of Little Ice Age (LIA) for the north‐western Himalaya High‐magnitude droughts or low precipitation limit the LIA influence before 1650s CE
ISSN:0094-8276
1944-8007
DOI:10.1029/2020GL091298