NOAA/WDS Paleoclimatology - Bhutan 638 Year Tree-Ring Summer Temperature Reconstruction

High-resolution tree-ring reconstructions from the Himalaya provide essential context for assessing impacts of future climate change on regional water reserves and downstream agriculture. Here we evaluate a small network of tree-ring chronologies from Bhutan to produce a 638-year summer temperature reconstruction, from 1376 - 2013 CE. Relative to the 1950 - 2013 CE average summer temperature three prominent cold periods stand out, 2 in the mid 15th century, and one in the late 17th century. The warmest period began in the first decade of the 21st century coinciding with the timing of general glacier recession in the eastern Himalaya that continues to the present. The Bhutan temperature reconstruction exhibits a significant correlation to known volcanic eruptions (p = 97%) and anomalously cold periods appear to align with solar irradiance minima in the 15th, late 17th and early 19th centuries, implying a link between solar variability and decadal-scale temperature variability.