Research on response of the Chinese pine to regional climatic factors and drought events, Xiaowutai Mountain, China

Under the background of climate change, droughts have occurred widely and frequently in North China in recent years. Using tree-ring to study droughts has advantages such as accurate dating, strong continuity and high resolution. This paper uses the Chinese pine ring-width of Xiaowutai Mountain, China, to analyze the correlations between the ring-width and climatic factors. The results show that the standard and residual chronologies of Chinese pine have significant correlations between spring precipitation, 0 cm ground temperature in May, average relative humidity of April and May, hours of sunshine and percentage of sunshine in May, and Z index of spring. The Chinese pine ring-width is fundamentally affected by the precipitation of the study area. 0 cm ground temperature, average relative humidity and hours of sunshine all affect the ring-width by affecting the soil water content indirectly. The years when the Chinese pine ring-width index of Xiaowutai Mountain falls into 0–0.80 could indicate spring drought years. This paper has demonstrated the feasibility of applying tree-rings to study the spatial and temporal development of drought in the study area.