Eigen analysis of tree-ring records: Part 1, a limited representativeness of regional curve

Based on a set of very long-living (2,000 years) Qilian junipers ( Sabina przewalskii Kom.) from the north-eastern part of the Tibetan Plateau (the region of Dulan), we carefully consider the regional curve standardization (RCS) technique. For this goal, we correlate deviations of individual tree-ring width records from their regional mean age-dependent curve (RC). It turns out that these correlations keep their positivity for almost all shifts between ages compared (up to 500 years and even more) evidencing each Dulan juniper to be a unique “thermometer”. Just the unification of these “thermometers” in the form RC creates a spurious positive trend in the Dulan chronology. We modify the RCS technique to closer attach RC to these “thermometers” in order to construct a new chronology in which the trend is absent.