Recent centennial drought on the Tibetan Plateau is outstanding within the past 3500 years
Abstract Given growing concerns about global climate change, it is critical to understand both historical and current shifts in the hydroclimate, particularly in regions critically entwined with global circulation. The Tibetan Plateau, the Earth’s largest and highest plateau, is a nexus for global a...
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Nature Portfolio
2025-02-01
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| Series: | Nature Communications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-56687-z |
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| author | Yu Liu Huiming Song Zhisheng An Qiang Li Steven W. Leavitt Ulf Büntgen Qiufang Cai Ruoshi Liu Congxi Fang Changfeng Sun Kerstin Treydte Meng Ren Lidong Mo Yi Song Wenju Cai Quan Zhang Weijian Zhou Achim Bräuning Jussi Grießinger Deliang Chen Hans W. Linderholm Ashish Sinha Hai Cheng Lu Wang Ying Lei Junyan Sun Wei Gong Xuxiang Li Linlin Cui Liang Ning Lingfeng Wan Thomas W. Crowther Constantin M. Zohner |
| author_facet | Yu Liu Huiming Song Zhisheng An Qiang Li Steven W. Leavitt Ulf Büntgen Qiufang Cai Ruoshi Liu Congxi Fang Changfeng Sun Kerstin Treydte Meng Ren Lidong Mo Yi Song Wenju Cai Quan Zhang Weijian Zhou Achim Bräuning Jussi Grießinger Deliang Chen Hans W. Linderholm Ashish Sinha Hai Cheng Lu Wang Ying Lei Junyan Sun Wei Gong Xuxiang Li Linlin Cui Liang Ning Lingfeng Wan Thomas W. Crowther Constantin M. Zohner |
| author_sort | Yu Liu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Given growing concerns about global climate change, it is critical to understand both historical and current shifts in the hydroclimate, particularly in regions critically entwined with global circulation. The Tibetan Plateau, the Earth’s largest and highest plateau, is a nexus for global atmospheric processes, significantly influencing East Asian hydroclimate dynamics through the synergy of the Asian Monsoon and the Westerlies. Yet, understanding historical and recent hydroclimate fluctuations and their wide-ranging ecological and societal consequences remains challenging due to short instrumental observations and partly ambiguous proxy reconstructions. Here, we present a precisely-dated 3476-year precipitation reconstruction derived from tree-ring δ18O data on the Tibetan Plateau, representing one of the few multi-millennia-long annually-resolved terrestrial δ18O records to date. Our findings reveal that the 20th century drought extremes are severe within the past three millennia, and likely linked to the weakening of both the Asian Monsoon and Westerlies due to anthropogenic aerosol emissions. Additionally, our analyses identified three distinct stages (110 BC–AD 280, AD 330–770 and AD 950–1300) characterized by shifts toward arid hydroclimate conditions, corresponding to significant social unrest and dynasty collapses, which underscores the potential societal impacts of severe hydroclimatic shifts. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-459e02c55a5a486d9b719cec0e92c917 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2041-1723 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-02-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
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| series | Nature Communications |
| spelling | doaj-art-459e02c55a5a486d9b719cec0e92c9172025-02-09T12:44:19ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232025-02-011611910.1038/s41467-025-56687-zRecent centennial drought on the Tibetan Plateau is outstanding within the past 3500 yearsYu Liu0Huiming Song1Zhisheng An2Qiang Li3Steven W. Leavitt4Ulf Büntgen5Qiufang Cai6Ruoshi Liu7Congxi Fang8Changfeng Sun9Kerstin Treydte10Meng Ren11Lidong Mo12Yi Song13Wenju Cai14Quan Zhang15Weijian Zhou16Achim Bräuning17Jussi Grießinger18Deliang Chen19Hans W. Linderholm20Ashish Sinha21Hai Cheng22Lu Wang23Ying Lei24Junyan Sun25Wei Gong26Xuxiang Li27Linlin Cui28Liang Ning29Lingfeng Wan30Thomas W. Crowther31Constantin M. Zohner32The State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of SciencesInstitute of Global Environmental Change, Xi’an Jiaotong UniversityThe State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of SciencesInstitute of Global Environmental Change, Xi’an Jiaotong UniversityThe Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, The University of ArizonaDepartment of Geography, University of CambridgeThe State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of SciencesInstitute of Global Environmental Change, Xi’an Jiaotong UniversityInstitute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, Chinese Academy of SciencesInstitute of Global Environmental Change, Xi’an Jiaotong UniversityResearch Unit Forest Dynamics, Swiss Federal Research Institute (WSL)Xi’an Institute for Innovative Earth Environment ResearchInstitute of Integrative Biology, ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology)The State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of SciencesCentre for Southern Hemisphere Ocean Research (CSHOR), CSIRO Oceans and AtmosphereThe State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of SciencesThe State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of SciencesInstitute of Geography, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-NürnbergInstitute of Geography, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-NürnbergDepartment of Earth Sciences, University of GothenburgDepartment of Earth Sciences, University of GothenburgDepartment of Earth Science, California State University, Dominguez HillsInstitute of Global Environmental Change, Xi’an Jiaotong UniversityInstitute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of SciencesThe State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of SciencesThe State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of SciencesSchool of Archaeology and Museology, Peking UniversityInstitute of Global Environmental Change, Xi’an Jiaotong UniversityCollege of Atmospheric Sciences, Chengdu University of Information TechnologyKey Laboratory for Virtual Geographic Environment, Ministry of Education, School of Geography, Nanjing Normal UniversityInstitute for Advanced Ocean Study (IAOS), Ocean University of ChinaInstitute of Integrative Biology, ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology)Institute of Integrative Biology, ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology)Abstract Given growing concerns about global climate change, it is critical to understand both historical and current shifts in the hydroclimate, particularly in regions critically entwined with global circulation. The Tibetan Plateau, the Earth’s largest and highest plateau, is a nexus for global atmospheric processes, significantly influencing East Asian hydroclimate dynamics through the synergy of the Asian Monsoon and the Westerlies. Yet, understanding historical and recent hydroclimate fluctuations and their wide-ranging ecological and societal consequences remains challenging due to short instrumental observations and partly ambiguous proxy reconstructions. Here, we present a precisely-dated 3476-year precipitation reconstruction derived from tree-ring δ18O data on the Tibetan Plateau, representing one of the few multi-millennia-long annually-resolved terrestrial δ18O records to date. Our findings reveal that the 20th century drought extremes are severe within the past three millennia, and likely linked to the weakening of both the Asian Monsoon and Westerlies due to anthropogenic aerosol emissions. Additionally, our analyses identified three distinct stages (110 BC–AD 280, AD 330–770 and AD 950–1300) characterized by shifts toward arid hydroclimate conditions, corresponding to significant social unrest and dynasty collapses, which underscores the potential societal impacts of severe hydroclimatic shifts.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-56687-z |
| spellingShingle | Yu Liu Huiming Song Zhisheng An Qiang Li Steven W. Leavitt Ulf Büntgen Qiufang Cai Ruoshi Liu Congxi Fang Changfeng Sun Kerstin Treydte Meng Ren Lidong Mo Yi Song Wenju Cai Quan Zhang Weijian Zhou Achim Bräuning Jussi Grießinger Deliang Chen Hans W. Linderholm Ashish Sinha Hai Cheng Lu Wang Ying Lei Junyan Sun Wei Gong Xuxiang Li Linlin Cui Liang Ning Lingfeng Wan Thomas W. Crowther Constantin M. Zohner Recent centennial drought on the Tibetan Plateau is outstanding within the past 3500 years Nature Communications |
| title | Recent centennial drought on the Tibetan Plateau is outstanding within the past 3500 years |
| title_full | Recent centennial drought on the Tibetan Plateau is outstanding within the past 3500 years |
| title_fullStr | Recent centennial drought on the Tibetan Plateau is outstanding within the past 3500 years |
| title_full_unstemmed | Recent centennial drought on the Tibetan Plateau is outstanding within the past 3500 years |
| title_short | Recent centennial drought on the Tibetan Plateau is outstanding within the past 3500 years |
| title_sort | recent centennial drought on the tibetan plateau is outstanding within the past 3500 years |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-56687-z |
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