Reconstruction of annual temperature anomalies (with a reference period of 1901–2000; the same for the other series) in Xinjiang during 1850–2001 and comparison with other data.

(a) Comparison of the reconstruction and observation for 1951–2001. (b) Annual temperature anomalies with a 95% confidence interval reconstructed by the signal decomposition and synthesis method. (c) Annual temperature anomalies with a 95% confidence interval reconstructed by traditional method. (d) Observed temperature anomalies at Fergana (40.37°N, 71.75°E), Republic of Uzbekistan for 1881–2001 (data from http://climexp.knmi.nl/). (e) NH land air temperature anomalies for 1850–2001 from the Climatic Research Unit, University of East Anglia (http://www.cru.uea.ac.uk/cru/data/temperature/CRUTEM4v-nh.dat). The box between panel (b) and (c) shows the approximate time intervals for glacial activity in the Tianshan Mountains and the other western China highlands during the 20th century [41–43].