March SST reconstruction in the South China Sea based on Pinus massoniana tree-ring widths from Changting, Fujian, in Southeast China since 1893 CE

To study regional climate change and sea surface temperature (SST) variations in the South China Sea, three tree-ring width index chronologies (whole ring width, earlywood width and latewood width) of the Pinus massoniana from Changting, Fujian, in Southeast China were built. A correlation analysis was conducted between the chronologies and climate variables, and the results demonstrated that the March SST correlation coefficients for earlywood and whole ring width chronologies for the period 1982–2011 were estimated to be 0.558 and 0.677, respectively, which were highly significant at the 0.01 confidence level. SSTs were reconstructed from 1893 to 2011 CE for the South China Sea. The reconstruction explained 45.9% of the variance during the calibration period (1982–2011). On a decadal timescale, for the reconstructed SSTs during the reliable period (1904–2011), above-mean temperature periods occurred in 1904–1913, 1929–1948, 1961–1973 and 1991–2006 CE, whereas below-mean temperature periods occurred in 1914–1925, 1949–1960, 1979–1990 and 2007–2011 CE. This reconstruction could aid in the evaluation of regional climate variability in the South China Sea.