Little Ice Age Revealed in Tree-Ring-Based Precipitation Record From the Northwest Himalaya, India

The spatial and temporal span of hydrological impact of the Little Ice Age (LIA) in the north-western Himalaya is not well constrained due to data limitation. We evaluated a network of tree-ring chronologies from moisture-stressed ecological settings in Jammu and Kashmir to identify the impact of LIA over the western Himalaya. Our study reflects three centennial scale phases; the middle phase (1650s-1850s CE) with stable precipitation and in accordance with other hydrological records clearly demarcates the LIA impact over the Himalaya. However, high-magnitude droughts recorded in early (1383-1650s CE) and late phases (1850s-2017) underpin that the north-western Himalaya did not witness any LIA influence before 1650s.

Automated summary

The study of tree-ring chronologies in the north-western Himalaya reveals three distinct phases of precipitation changes during the Little Ice Age, indicating that the region did not experience any LIA influence before 1650.