We reconstructed the April–June mean minimum temperature from 1797 to 2015 for the Changbai Mountains, using mean earlywood density data from Pinus koraiensis (P. koraiensi). The reconstruction explained 52.6% of the actual mean minimum temperature variance during 1901–2015. After applying an 11-year moving average, we found three major cold periods (1797–1875, 1881–1899, and 1903–1946) and three major warm periods (1876–1880, 1900–1902, and 1947–2015) in the reconstructed series. Spatial correlation showed that the reconstruction contained climatic signals for a large area including most of northeast China, especially the Bohai Rim region and the eastern side of the Mongolian Plateau. A comparison between the reconstructed temperature and other area reconstructions showed similar patterns and identified a significant warming trend during the second half of the 20^th century. Power spectral and wavelet analyses demonstrated the existence of significant 2–4-yr, 14.8-yr, 60-yr, and 113.6-yr cycles of variability, which might be associated with large-scale atmospheric–oceanic variability. The reconstructed series provides a basis for understanding past climate change in the Changbai Mountains and predicting future climate change trends in northeast China.
 

Pinus koraiensis; earlywood density; climatic responses; minimum temperature reconstruction; Changbai Mountains