Climatic potential of δ18O of Abies spectabilis from the Nepal Himalaya

A 50-year tree-ring δ18O chronology of Abies spectabilis growing close to the tree line (3850 m asl) in the Nepal Himalaya is established to explore its dendroclimatic potential. Response function analysis with ambient climatic records revealed that tree-ring δ18O is primarily governed by rainfall during the monsoon season (June–September), and the regression model accounts for 35% of the variance in rainfall. Extreme dry years identified in instrumental weather data are detected in the δ18O chronology. Further, tree-ring δ18O is much more sensitive to rainfall fluctuations than other tree-ring parameters such as width and density typically used in dendroclimatology. Correlation analyses with Niño 3.4 SST reveal time-dependent behavior of ENSO–monsoon relationships.