Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. Medical and Hospital News .




WATER WORLD
Recent decades likely wettest in four millennia in Tibet
by Staff Writers
Lanzhou, China (SPX) Feb 20, 2014


File image.

Recent decades may have been the wettest in 3,500 years in North East Tibet - according to climate researchers at the University of East Anglia (UK) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Lanzhou, China).

Researchers looked at 3,500-year-long tree ring records from North East Tibet to estimate annual precipitation. They found that recent decades have likely been the wettest on record in this semi-arid region.

The precipitation records have been reconstructed using sub-fossil, archaeological and living juniper tree samples from the north-eastern Tibetan Plateau. They reveal a trend towards wider growth rings, implying moister growing conditions - with the last 50 years seeing increasing amounts of rainfall.

Notable historical dry periods occurred in the 4th Century BC and in the second half of the 15th Century AD.

Dr Tim Osborn from UEA's Climatic Research Unit said: "Our collaboration with scientists from China has been very fruitful, leading to what is currently the longest tree-ring-width record in the cold and arid north-eastern Tibetan Plateau.

"Not only is the record very long, it is based on samples from more than 1000 trees, some of which have an individual lifespan of more than 2000 years. These are among the longest-lived trees in the world."

Not only are these trees long-lived, but they are useful for understanding how climate has changed. The widths of the tree rings show a close correspondence with observations from rain gauges over the last 55 years, such that tree rings in wetter years tend to be wider than tree rings in drier years.

Dr Osborn said: "The most recent few decades have, on average, the widest rings in the 3,500-year record which suggests that this may have been the wettest period, perhaps associated with global warming during the last century.

Indeed, over the last two thousand years when the Northern Hemisphere is warm it appears to be wetter in the Mountains of North East Tibet. This suggests that any further large-scale warming might be associated with even greater rainfall in this region - though we note that other factors could also have contributed to the increased ring widths."

'A 3500-year tree-ring record of annual precipitation on the north-eastern Tibetan Plateau' is published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

.


Related Links
University of East Anglia
Water News - Science, Technology and Politics






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








WATER WORLD
Irish Water issues first tender for Dublin water supply project
Dublin, Ireland (UPI) Feb 19, 2013
The utility Irish Water has issued a tender for its first infrastructure project - a $685 million effort to supply Dublin with water from the River Shannon. The quasi-public company was started last year as a subsidiary of Bord Gais Eireann to improve and coordinate the notoriously inefficient operations of water services in Ireland, which had been under the jurisdiction of 34 local au ... read more


WATER WORLD
100-tonne radioactive water leak at Fukushima: TEPCO

Post-tsunami deaths outnumber disaster toll in one Japan area

Police to investigate death of Manus asylum detainee

Outsmarting nature during disasters

WATER WORLD
Russia to deploy up to 7 Glonass ground stations outside of national territory in 2014

Northrop Grumman Awarded U.S. Military Contract for Navigation Systems

Galileo works, and works well

Sochi Olympic transport controlled from space using GLONASS satellite

WATER WORLD
What makes memories last?

Baylor Sheds New Light on the Habitat of Early Apes

Thinking it through: Scientists seek to unlock mysteries of the brain

Cortical convolutions controlled in sections

WATER WORLD
Five tiger cubs seized in Thai police wildlife haul

How bacteria communicate with us to build a special relationship

Cities support more native biodiversity than previously thought

Urban Bees Using Plastic to Build Hives

WATER WORLD
Flu hits young, middle aged people hard this year

Study on flu evolution may change textbooks, history books

Poland struck by first cases of African swine fever

Boy becomes Cambodia's first bird flu death of year

WATER WORLD
Wife of jailed Chinese Nobel winner in hospital

Questions over recovery of China's lost marbles

Ai Weiwei brushes off painter's smashing of $1m vase

Hong Kong officials criticise anti-Chinese protest

WATER WORLD
French navy arrests pirates suspected of oil tanker attack

Mexican vigilantes accuse army of killing four

Gunmen kill two soldiers in troubled Mexican state

China smugglers dig tunnel into Hong Kong: media

WATER WORLD
Dalai Lama, in US, seeks humane capitalism

January foreign direct investment in China rises 16%: govt

Outside View: Raising minimum wage to $8.25 is best option

BoJ chief says lending moves like slapping on 'new car tyres'




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.