With high temporal resolution and accurate age control, tree-ring width is a good proxy for recording past climate variations from interannual to centennial time scales. The complex network method, widely used in analyses of modern meteorological observations, is an effective method to demonstrate synchronizations within climate events, thus revealing potential climate teleconnections. In this study, we tested to use the complex network in analyzing extremes recorded in time serials of tree-ring width in East Asia during the past 600 years. Our study indicates that this method is a valuable approach to reveal synchronizations in climate-sensitive tree-ring width records, though the ability of this method is dependent on the quality of the tree-ring data. Furthermore, our study shows stronger synchronizations in extremes of tree-ring width records during the CE 1850–1950 period in the Modern Warm Period than the CE 1450–1650 period in the Little Ice Age. A remarkable shift in synchronization types within the south part and the inland East Asia sites appears during the year CE 1850–1950. These changes in synchronizations suggest potential reorganizations in climate teleconnections, which is worthy being addressed in further studies with detrending and statistical significance testing methods involved.

由于具有较高的时间分辨率和精确的年龄控制，因此年轮宽度可以很好地替代记录从年际到百年时间尺度的过去气候变化。复杂网络方法广泛用于现代气象观测分析中，是证明气候事件内部同步的有效方法，从而揭示了潜在的气候遥相关。在这项研究中，我们测试了使用复杂网络分析过去600年中东亚树木年轮宽度的时间序列中记录的极端情况。我们的研究表明，尽管该方法的能力取决于树环数据的质量，但该方法是揭示气候敏感的树环宽度记录中同步的一种有价值的方法。此外，我们的研究表明，在现代暖期的CE 1850–1950期间，树木年轮宽度记录的极端值比小冰河时期的CE 1450–1650期间的同步更强。在公元1850年至1950年期间，南部地区和东亚内陆地区的同步类型发生了显着变化。同步中的这些变化表明气候遥相关的潜在重组，这在涉及趋势和统计显着性测试方法的进一步研究中值得解决。