Reconstruction of past temperature and climate anomalies from tree rings of Fokienia hodginsii in South-Central Vietnam

Tree-ring records of Fokienia hodginsii from the Tay Giang protected forest, Vietnam, provide valuable insights into long-term climate variability and historical drought patterns in the South-Central region of Vietnam. The tree-ring index indicated radial growth of trees is negatively correlated with the temperature of April, May, and June in the period of 1575–1978 CE. During these years, analysis of 10-year moving window showed cyclical warm periods lasting from 1 to 22 years and with amplitudes greater than 7–8%, occurring in several intervals of 1622–1627, 1723–1731, 1784–1796, 1817–1828, 1847–1874, 1903–1928, and 1955–1965 CE. This record provided significant evidence about the late 20th-century warming at high latitude and altitude sites. Additionally, the reconstructed Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI), developed using a simple linear regression model based on reconstructed mean annual temperature data, identified 39 drought events between 1581 and CE 2005. It indicated the coincidence of four large-scale droughts recorded throughout Southeast Asia, including Victorian Drought I (1876–1818 CE), Victorian Drought II (1888–1889 CE), Strange Parallels Drought (1751–1757; 1760–1761 CE) and East Indian Drought (1778–1789 CE). Results of this study provide useful information for detecting climate anomalies in the past and enable the potential prediction for climate-related natural disasters.