Climatic variations in China over the last 2000 years

Abstract

A compilation of paleoclimate records from ice core, tree-rings, lake sediments and historical documents provides a view of temperature change in China over the recent 2000 years. For all-China temperature reconstruction, six sub-stages are identified for the last two millennia. Around AD 0 – 240, AD 800 – 1100, AD 1320 – 1400 and the period from AD 1880 on were warm while around AD 240 – 800, AD 1100 – 1320, AD 1400 – 1880 were cold. Also, temperature varied from region to region in each of the warm or cold periods. The Eastern Han warm period (0 - AD 240), the cold period covering the span of Wei, Jin, and the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the MWP (AD 800 – 1100) and succeeding LIA occurred in eastern China and the Qilian Mountains. Only the first two climatic events were recorded in Guliya ice core while the so-called MWP and LIA was far weaker. Also, the warming between AD 800 and 1100 didn’t occur in the south of Xizang (Tibet) Plateau. Instead, the southern Xizang Plateau experienced warming in AD 1150 – 1400. The aggregated China temperature agrees well with North-hemisphere temperature in the past millennia, indicating close relationship of temperature changes between China and North-hemisphere.