A new method of analyzing tree rings has helped to restore temperature data in Mongolia since 1269 AD. NS.
Central Asia is one of the fastest warming regions on the planet. Over the past 15 years, summer temperatures here have risen by 1.59 ° C. This is almost three times higher than the world average. For the past 15 years, the region has suffered from severe and prolonged drought.
To date, there is only a small amount of long-term climate data for Central Asia that can help predict the future of the region.
A new study of the region’s temperature was conducted by Nicole Dewey, a senior fellow at Columbia University Lamon Doherty, the Earth Observatory. The authors used the analysis of tree rings, which can be used to learn about the temperature and nature of precipitation over the past hundred or even a thousand years.
The authors first studied the nuclei of tree rings, which were collected in 1998 and 2005. And to get more information, they used a new way to analyze trees. In the new method, scientists determine how well each ring reflects blue light. The denser the wood, the less it absorbs the blue color and, accordingly, the tree grew in colder conditions.
Based on these data, the team built a model of summer temperatures for the region from 1269 to 2004. New data confirm that summer temperatures have been the highest in the region for 800 years since the 1990s.
New forecasts predict that from the end of 2100 in the Central Asian region warms by 3-6 ° C. A sharp rise in temperatures is already damaging fragile ecosystems and causing massive losses of animals that have historically been the backbone of Mongolia’s economy.