scholarly journals The 4.2 ka event in East Asian monsoon region, precisely reconstructed by multi-proxies of stalagmite

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chao-Jun Chen ◽  
Dao-Xian Yuan ◽  
Jun-Yun Li ◽  
Xian-Feng Wang ◽  
Hai Cheng ◽  
...  

Abstract. The 4.2 ka event is one of the most salient features of global climate change in the mid-late Holocene and influenced on the evolution of ancient civilizations. Although a lot of paleoclimate reconstructions have focused on it, the detailed structure and driving mechanism of the 4.2 ka event is still unclear. In this study, the variation of Asian summer monsoon (ASM) during 5000–3000 yr BP was reconstructed by using high-precision U-Th dating (average resolution of 7 yr) and multi-proxies (δ13C, δ18O, Ba / Ca, Sr / Ca, Mg / Ca) of stalagmite YK1306 from Yangkou Cave in southwestern China. The results showed that that the ASM weakened and precipitation decreased during 4600–4330 yr BP and 4070–3700 yr BP. During 4330–4070 yr BP, the ASM became strong, and precipitation increased. The multi-proxies variation of YK1306 showed a weak-strong-weak structure of the ASM during the 4.2 ka event, which reappeared in different geologic records. However, westerlies and Australian-Indian summer monsoon (AISM) both showed the opposite change pattern (strong-weak-strong) with the ASM. This was resulted by the different phases of North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) on a centennial scale, which regulated by the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). In positive NAO-like, the strength of Azores high and westerly wind restrained the intensity of ASM. Thus, the ASM and the Middle East regions experienced bimodal drought and increased dust flux from the north in both regions during the 4.2 ka event. The strengthened meridional winds in the westerlies-dominated climatic regime (WDCR) lead more water vapor from the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea transporting to in the WDCR, and subsequently increases precipitation in the WDCR. Meanwhile, the weakening of the AMOC results in the southward migration of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) and strengthens the AISM in the southern Hemisphere, finally results in the opposite change of the AISM contrast to the ASM. In addition, the strong ASM in the era of the Chinese Xia Dynasty maybe produce frequent ancient floods, which led to the decline of Longshan and Liangzhu cultures. The weakening of the ASM after 4070 yr BP contributed to the successful regulation of the ancient floodwaters by Dayu in Chinese history. Therefore, it is maybe credible that the official age for the establishment of the Xia Dynasty in 4070 yr BP. Benefit from the comprehensive comparison and analysis based on the unprecedented high-precise chronology, high-resolution and multi-proxy's stalagmite records, this study not only detailed described the evolution of the ASM during the 4.2 ka event, but also is conducive to verify the age of the first dynasty of China (the Xia Dynasty), and the legend of Dayu.

2014 ◽  
Vol 82 (1) ◽  
pp. 154-163 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weihong Zhang ◽  
Jiangying Wu ◽  
Yi Wang ◽  
Yongjin Wang ◽  
Hai Cheng ◽  
...  

AbstractThe ‘Mystery Interval’ (MI, 17.5−14.5 ka) was the first stage of the last deglaciation, a key interval for understanding mechanisms of glacial–interglacial cycles. To elucidate possible causes of the MI, here we present three high-resolution, precisely dated oxygen-isotope records of stalagmites from Qingtian and Hulu Caves in China, reflecting changes in the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) then. Based on well-established chronologies using precise 230Th dates and annual-band counting results, the two-cave δ18O profiles of ~7-yr resolution match well at decadal timescales. Both of the two-cave records document an abrupt weakening (2‰ of δ18O rise within 20 yr) in the EASM at ~16.1 ka, coinciding with the transition of the two-phased MI reconstructed from New Mexico's Lake Estancia. Our results indicate that the maximum southward displacement of the Intertropical Convergence Zone and associated southward shift of polar jet stream may generate this two-phase feature of the MI during that time. We also discover a linear relationship among decreasing EASM intensity, rising atmospheric CO2 and weakening Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation between the MI and Younger Dryas episodes, suggesting a strong coupling of atmospheric/oceanic circulations in response to the millennial-scale forcing, which in turn regulates global climate changes and carbon cycles.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
James R. Thomson ◽  
Philip B. Holden ◽  
Pallavi Anand ◽  
Neil R. Edwards ◽  
Cécile A. Porchier ◽  
...  

AbstractAsian Monsoon rainfall supports the livelihood of billions of people, yet the relative importance of different drivers remains an issue of great debate. Here, we present 30 million-year model-based reconstructions of Indian summer monsoon and South East Asian monsoon rainfall at millennial resolution. We show that precession is the dominant direct driver of orbital variability, although variability on obliquity timescales is driven through the ice sheets. Orographic development dominated the evolution of the South East Asian monsoon, but Indian summer monsoon evolution involved a complex mix of contributions from orography (39%), precession (25%), atmospheric CO2 (21%), ice-sheet state (5%) and ocean gateways (5%). Prior to 15 Ma, the Indian summer monsoon was broadly stable, albeit with substantial orbital variability. From 15 Ma to 5 Ma, strengthening was driven by a combination of orography and glaciation, while closure of the Panama gateway provided the prerequisite for the modern Indian summer monsoon state through a strengthened Atlantic meridional overturning circulation.


2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (19) ◽  
pp. 7662-7675 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyong-Hwan Seo ◽  
Jung Ok ◽  
Jun-Hyeok Son ◽  
Dong-Hyun Cha

Abstract Future changes in the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) are estimated from historical and Representative Concentration Pathway 6.0 (RCP6) experiments of the fifth phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5). The historical runs show that, like the CMIP3 models, the CMIP5 models produce slightly smaller precipitation. A moisture budget analysis illustrates that this precipitation deficit is due to an underestimation in evaporation and ensuing moisture flux convergence. Of the two components of the moisture flux convergence (i.e., moisture convergence and horizontal moist advection), moisture convergence associated with mass convergence is underestimated to a greater degree. Precipitation is anticipated to increase by 10%–15% toward the end of the twenty-first century over the major monsoonal front region. A statistically significant increase is predicted to occur mostly over the Baiu region and to the north and northeast of the Korean Peninsula. This increase is attributed to an increase in evaporation and moist flux convergence (with enhanced moisture convergence contributing the most) induced by the northwestward strengthening of the North Pacific subtropical high (NPSH), a characteristic feature of the future EASM that occurred in CMIP5 simulations. Along the northern and northwestern flank of the strengthened NPSH, intensified southerly or southwesterly winds lead to the increase in moist convergence, enhancing precipitation over these areas. However, future precipitation over the East China Sea is projected to decrease. In the EASM domain, a local mechanism prevails, with increased moisture and moisture convergence leading to a greater increase in moist static energy in the lower troposphere than in the upper troposphere, reducing tropospheric stability.


2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (6) ◽  
pp. 1289-1317 ◽  
Author(s):  
D.-D. Rousseau ◽  
N. Wu ◽  
Y. Pei ◽  
F. Li

Abstract. Chinese loess sequences are interpreted as a reliable record of the past variation of the East Asian monsoon regime through the alternation of loess and paleosols units, dominated by the winter and summer monsoon, respectively. Different proxies have been used to describe this system, mostly geophysical, geochemical or sedimentological. Terrestrial mollusks are also a reliable proxy of past environmental conditions and are often preserved in large numbers in loess deposits. The analysis of the mollusk remains in the Luochuan sequence, comprising L5 loess to S0 soil, i.e. the last 500 ka, shows that for almost all identified species, the abundance is higher at the base of the interval (L5 to L4) than in the younger deposits. Using the present ecological requirements of the identified mollusk species in the Luochuan sequence allows the definition of two main mollusk groups varying during the last 500 kyr. The cold-aridiphilous individuals indicate the so-called Asian winter monsoon regime and predominantly occur during glacials, when dust is deposited. The thermal-humidiphilous mollusks are prevalent during interglacial or interstadial conditions of the Asian summer monsoon, when soil formation takes place. In the sequence, three events with exceptionally high abundance of the Asian summer monsoon indicators are recorded during the L5, L4 and L2 glacial intervals, i.e., at about 470, 360 and 170 kyr, respectively. The L5 and L4 events appear to be the strongest (high counts). Similar variations have also been identified in the Xifeng sequence, distant enough from Luochuan, but also in Lake Baikal further North, to suggest that this phenomenon is regional rather than local. The indicators of the summer monsoon within the glacial intervals imply a strengthened East-Asian monsoon interpreted as corresponding to marine isotope stages 6, 10 and 12, respectively. The L5 and L2 summer monsoons are coeval with Mediterranean sapropels S12 and S6, which characterize a strong African summer monsoon with relatively low surface water salinity in the Indian Ocean. Changes in the precipitation regime could correspond to a response to a particular astronomical configuration (low obliquity, low precession, summer solstice at perihelion) leading to an increased summer insolation gradient between the tropics and the high latitudes and resulting in enhanced atmospheric water transport from the tropics to the African and Asian continents. However, other climate drivers such as reorganization of marine and atmospheric circulations, tectonic, and the extent of the Northern Hemisphere ice sheet are also discussed.


2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (14) ◽  
pp. 5485-5506 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhiqi Zhang ◽  
Xuguang Sun ◽  
Xiu-Qun Yang

Abstract East Asian summer monsoon precipitation (EASMP) features complicated interdecadal variability with multiple time periods and spatial patterns. Using century-long datasets of HadISST, CRU precipitation, and the ECMWF twentieth-century reanalysis (ERA-20C), this study examines the joint influence of three oceanic interdecadal signals [i.e., Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO), Atlantic multidecadal oscillation (AMO), and Indian Ocean Basin mode (IOBM)] on the EASMP, which, however, is found not to be simply a linear combination of their individual effects. When PDO and AMO are out of phase, the same-sign SST anomalies occur in the North Pacific and North Atlantic, and a zonally orientated teleconnection wave train appears across the Eurasian mid-to-high latitudes, propagating from the North Atlantic to northern East Asia along the Asian westerly jet waveguide. Correspondingly, the interdecadal precipitation anomalies are characterized by a meridional tripole mode over eastern China. When PDO and AMO are in phase, with opposite sign SST anomalies in the North Pacific and North Atlantic, the sandwich pattern of anomalous stationary Rossby wavenumber tends to reduce the effect of the waveguide in the eastern Mediterranean region, and the teleconnection wave train from the North Atlantic travels only to western central Asia along a great circle route, causing Indian summer monsoon precipitation (ISMP) anomalies. The ISMP anomalies, in turn, interact with the teleconnection wave train induced by the PDO and AMO, leading to a meridional dipole mode of interdecadal precipitation anomalies over eastern China. Through the impact on the ISMP, the IOBM exerts significantly linear modulation on the combined impacts of PDO and AMO, especially over northern East Asia.


Atmosphere ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 90
Author(s):  
Yongxiao Liang ◽  
Pengfeng Xiao

The effects of urbanization over eastern China on the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) under different sea surface temperature background are compared using a Community Atmosphere Model (CAM5.1). Experiments of urbanization investigated by comparing two climate simulations with and without urban land cover under both positive and negative phases of Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) show the spatial distribution of precipitation with ‘southern flood and northern drought’ and weakening status of EASM. The climate effect of urbanization in eastern China is significantly different from north to south. Anomalous vertical ascending motion due to the role of urbanization in the south of 30° N have induced an increase in convective available potential energy (CAPE) and precipitation increase over southern China. At the same time, the downward vertical motion occurs in the north of 30° N which cause warming over northern China. Due to the anti-cyclonic anomalies in the upper and lower layers of the north, the monsoon circulation is weakened which can reduce the precipitation. However, urbanization impact under various phases of PDO show different effect. In the 1956–1970 urbanization experiments of negative PDO phase, the downward vertical motion and anti-cyclonic anomalies in the north of 30° N are also weaker than that of positive phase of PDO in 1982–1996. In terms of this situation, the urbanization experiments of negative phase of PDO reveal that the range of the warming area over the north of 40° N is small, and the warming intensity is weak, but the precipitation change is more obvious compared with the background of positive phase of PDO.


2015 ◽  
Vol 33 (8) ◽  
pp. 1051-1058 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. D. Bansod ◽  
S. Fadnavis ◽  
S. P. Ghanekar

Abstract. In this paper, interannual variability of tropospheric air temperatures over the Asian summer monsoon region during the pre-monsoon months is examined in relation to Indian summer monsoon rainfall (ISMR; June to September total rainfall). For this purpose, monthly grid-point temperatures in the entire troposphere over the Asian summer monsoon region and ISMR data for the period 1949–2012 have been used. Spatial correlation patterns are investigated between the temperature field in the lower tropospheric levels during May over the Asian summer monsoon region and ISMR. The results indicate a strong and significant northwest–southeast dipole structure in the spatial correlations over the Indian region, with highly significant positive (negative) correlations over the regions of north India and the western Tibetan Plateau region – region R1 (north Bay of Bengal: region R2). The observed dipole is seen significantly up to a level of 850 hPa and eventually disappears at 700 hPa. Thermal indices evaluated at 850 hPa level, based on average air temperatures over the north India and western Tibetan Plateau region (TI1) and the north Bay of Bengal region (TI2) during May, show a strong, significant relationship with the ISMR. The results are found to be consistent and robust, especially in the case of TI1 during the period of analysis. A physical mechanism for the relationship between these indices and ISMR is proposed. Finally the composite annual cycle of tropospheric air temperature over R1 during flood/drought years of ISMR is examined. The study brings out the importance of the TI1 in the prediction of flood/drought conditions over the Indian subcontinent.


2016 ◽  
Vol 86 (3) ◽  
pp. 287-294 ◽  
Author(s):  
Els E. van Soelen ◽  
Naohiko Ohkouchi ◽  
Hisami Suga ◽  
Jaap S. Sinninghe Damsté ◽  
Gert-Jan Reichart

AbstractPrecipitation in Japan is strongly affected by the East Asian monsoon system, resulting in wet summer conditions and relatively dry winter conditions. Few paleo-monsoon records exist from northeastern Asia, especially records showing decadal- to centennial-scale variability. Here we present a molecular hydrogen isotope (δD) record from Lake Kaiike, a small coastal lake in southwest Japan, to provide insight into monsoonal precipitation over the past two millennia. The δD record of friedelin, a terrestrial higher plant lipid, reveals three major shifts in precipitation: a decline from >-185‰ to <-190‰ at 1700 cal yr BP suggests a change to wetter conditions; values between -187.5‰ and -180‰ from 1480 to 800 cal yr BP indicate reduced precipitation; and a decline to below -195‰ after 800 cal yr BP reflects moist conditions during the Little Ice Age. These results highlight variability in the intensity of the East Asian Summer Monsoon occurring on decadal to centennial time scales. El Niño-like conditions are likely responsible for periods of high monsoon intensity, but comparison with other records in the region (northeast China and Japan) shows that contradicting patterns also exist, and so explaining these rainfall patterns is not straightforward.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 516-533 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianchun Bian ◽  
Dan Li ◽  
Zhixuan Bai ◽  
Qian Li ◽  
Daren Lyu ◽  
...  

Abstract Due to its surrounding strong and deep Asian summer monsoon (ASM) circulation and active surface pollutant emissions, surface pollutants are transported to the stratosphere from the Tibetan Plateau region, which may have critical impacts on global climate through chemical, microphysical and radiative processes. This article reviews major recent advances in research regarding troposphere–stratosphere transport from the region of the Tibetan Plateau. Since the discovery of the total ozone valley over the Tibetan Plateau in summer from satellite observations in the early 1990s, new satellite-borne instruments have become operational and have provided significant new information on atmospheric composition. In addition, in situ measurements and model simulations are used to investigate deep convection and the ASM anticyclone, surface sources and pathways, atmospheric chemical transformations and the impact on global climate. Also challenges are discussed for further understanding critical questions on microphysics and microchemistry in clouds during the pathway to the global stratosphere over the Tibetan Plateau.


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