lOOOyears of climatic change in China : ice - core 8 18 0 evidence

Sin ce 198 7, ice co res have bee n clri ll ecl from th e Duncl e a nd Gu li ya ice caps on th e Tibeta n Pl a teau, wes tern C hin a . H ere, th e oxygen iso topi c (80 ) records for th e las t 1000 yea rs from both th ese co res a re compil ed a nd compa red. Using surfa ce tempera ture obse rva ti ons since th e micl-l960s from meteorologica l sta ti ons on th e pl a teau a nd 60 measured on precipit a ti on coll ec ted contempora neously, the empiri ca l rela tionship: 60 = 0 .6 T,, 12 is esta blished . 80 a ppea rs to serve as a reasona ble p roxy for regio na l surface te mpera tures a nd a reaso na ble basis for reconstruc ting I 000 a proxy tempera ture reco rds from Duncle a nd G uli ya . The reco nstruc ted temperature histo ri es fo r Duncle (on th e eas tern Tibe ta n Pl a teau ) a nd Guli ya (on th e wes tern Tibe ta n Pla tea u) show some centennia l-scale simil a riti es, but reveal quite clifle rent hi s to ri es fo r hi g her-frequency variabilit y oYe r the las t millennium. Th e ice-co re 60 hi stori es from Duncl e a nd Gu li ya a re co mpa red with a tree-ring ind ex fi·om wes tern C hin a and th e dust-fall record from eas tern C hina , hut show n o co nsisten t rela ti onship. Th e m os t p ro min ent simila rit y be tw ee n th e reco nstru c ted tempera ture hi sto ri es for Dunde and Guli ya is th e ma rked 1-va rming of th e last few d ecad es. From th e l 000 a perspec ti ve provid ed by th ese ice-co re records, th e recent wa rmin g on Duncle is unique in its streng th a nd persistence; however , th e wa rming on G uli ya (infer red from 0 enri chment) is more recent (since 1985 ) a nd no t unpreced ented . This recent warming ove r th e Tibe ta n Pla teau is evident in th e Ii mi tee! me teorologica l records.