Relationship between the Northern Pacific Gyre Oscillation and tree-ring cellulose oxygen isotopes in northeastern Japan

• Main Authors: Wataru Sakashita, Hiroko Miyahara, Yusuke Yokoyama, Takahiro Aze, Stephen P. Obrochta, Takeshi Nakatsuka
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: SpringerOpen 2017-12-01
• Series: Geoscience Letters
• Subjects: Tree-ring; Oxygen isotope; Northeastern Japan; North Pacific Gyre Oscillation; North Pacific Oscillation
• Online Access: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40562-017-0095-2

Abstract The North Pacific Gyre Oscillation (NPGO) significantly imprints on hydrological fluctuations of the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) region, but this has not yet been observed in proxy-based hydroclimate reconstructions. This study reports a tree-ring cellulose oxygen isotope (δ18O) record from northeastern Japan spanning A.D. 1927–2010, overlapping with instrumental data, which we analyzed to determine if tree-ring δ18O in northeastern Japan records a signal consistent with the NPGO. Our results indicate that the tree-ring δ18O has a significant negative correlation with May–June (MJ) precipitation, as well as with short-term MJ relative humidity variation. Time-lagged temporal-domain comparisons indicate that the tree-ring δ18O is significantly correlated with the following year March–April (MA) and MJ NPGO index before the North Pacific climate transition in the late 1980s, particularly on decadal timescales. These relationships between our tree-ring δ18O and the climate patterns in the North Pacific are consistent with the actual early-summer precipitation. Spatial spring and early-summer sea-surface temperature anomalies exhibit a NPGO-like pattern in the following year. Spatial early-summer sea-level pressure anomalies also indicate North Pacific Oscillation (NPO) like patterns in the western North Pacific. These results suggest a lagged response of the NPGO to the EASM climate changes, and tree-ring δ18O in northeast Japan has a potential linkage with NPGO index from winter to early summer of the following year.