Basin-wide Holocene environmental changes in the marginal area of the Asian monsoon, northwest China

The proportional contribution of recycled moisture to local precipitation is a geographically dependent parameter that cannot be ignored in water budgets. Stable hydrogen and oxygen isotopes are sensitive to environmental changes and can be applied to investigate the modern water cycle. In this study, a three-component mixing model is used to calculate the contribution of different water vapors (advection, evaporation and transpiration) to summer precipitation in Lanzhou city, Northwest China. The results show that for all sampling sites in Lanzhou, the contribution of advection vapor to precipitation is the largest, followed by the plant transpiration vapor, and the contribution of surface evaporation water vapor is usually the least, with the average values of 87.96%, 9.1% and 2.9%, respectively. The spatial differences of plant transpiration vapor are generally larger than those of advection vapor and surface evaporation vapor, and the high values appear in Yongdeng, Daheng and Gaolan.

Download Full-text

Asian monsoon projection with a new large-scale monsoon definition

Theoretical and Applied Climatology ◽

10.1007/s00704-021-03866-9 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Xingang Dai ◽

Yang Yang ◽

Ping Wang

Keyword(s):

South Asia ◽

Summer Monsoon ◽

Moisture Transport ◽

Large Scale ◽

Asian Monsoon ◽

Monsoon Season ◽

Northwest China ◽

Winter Monsoon ◽

Climate Simulation ◽

Northwestern Part

Abstract This paper focuses on Asian monsoon projection with CMIP5 multi-model outputs. A large-scale monsoon herewith is defined as a vector field of vertically integrated moisture flux from the surface to 500 hPa. Results demonstrate that the model ensemble mean underestimated the summer monsoon and overestimated slightly the winter monsoon over South Asia in both CMIP5 historical climate simulation and the monsoon projection for 2006–2015. The major of the bias is the model climate drift (MCD), which is removed in the monsoon projection for 2016–2045 under scenarios RCP4.5 for reducing the uncertainty. The projection shows that two increased moisture flows northward appeared across the Equator of Indian Ocean, the first is nearby Somalia coast toward northwestern part of South Asia, leading to excess rainfall in where the wet jet could reach, and the second starts from the equatorial Sect. (80°E–100°E) toward northeastern Bay of Bengal, leading to more rainfall spreading over the northwestern coast of Indochina Peninsula. In addition, a westward monsoon flow is intensified over the Peninsula leading to local climate moisture transport belt shifted onto South China Sea, which would reduce moisture transport toward Southwest China on one hand, and transport more moisture onto the southeast coast of the China mainland. The anomalous monsoon would result in a dry climate in Northwest China and wet climate in the coast belt during summer monsoon season for the period. Besides, the Asian winter monsoon would be seemingly intensified slightly over South Asia, which would bring a dry winter climate to Indian subcontinent, Northwest China, but would be more rainfall in southeast part of Arabian Peninsula with global climate warming.

Download Full-text

Diverse manifestations of insolation forcing of environmental changes during the middle Piacenzian

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-1733 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Peng Gao ◽

Junsheng Nie

Keyword(s):

High Resolution ◽

Asian Monsoon ◽

Environmental Changes ◽

East Asian Monsoon ◽

East Asian ◽

Ice Volume ◽

Global Ice Volume ◽

Direct Forcing ◽

Insolation Forcing ◽

Higher Sensitivity

<p>The middle Piacenzian period is the closest sustained warm interval and a possible analog to the future climate. It is well known that global ice volume exhibits dominant 41-kyr cyclicities. However, high resolution terrestrial paleoenvironmental records are scare. Here we present a 3.6 kyr terrestrial environmental variation record from Teruel Basin of Spain and compare the results with the East Asian monsoon records. The Spain results show dominant 41-kyr cycles during the early Piacenzian (3.3-3.15 Ma) when eccentricity was at minimum, but the 41-kyr cycles weakens during the late Piacenzian 3.15-2.95 Ma when eccentricity got increased, suggesting direct forcing by insolation. This pattern is different from the monsoonal records from China, which demonstrates persistent 20-kyr cycles during the entire middle Piacenzian. The strong 41-kyr cycles in westerly region during the early Piacenzian may originate from its higher latitude and higher sensitivity to insolation gradient forcing.</p>

Download Full-text

Early–middle Holocene hydroclimate changes in the Asian monsoon margin of northwest China inferred from Huahai terminal lake records

Journal of Paleolimnology ◽

10.1007/s10933-016-9880-8 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 55 (3) ◽

pp. 289-302 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Zhuolun Li ◽

Nai’ang Wang ◽

Hongyi Cheng ◽

Yu Li

Keyword(s):

Asian Monsoon ◽

Northwest China ◽

Middle Holocene

Download Full-text

Impact of South Asian monsoon on summer dust weather occurrence over the Tarim basin in Northwest China

Environmental Research Communications ◽

10.1088/2515-7620/abbd89 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 2 (10) ◽

pp. 105001

Author(s):

Lixia Meng ◽

Yong Zhao ◽

Anning Huang ◽

Tianzhu Wang ◽

Yang Wu

Keyword(s):

South Asian ◽

Tarim Basin ◽

Asian Monsoon ◽

Northwest China ◽

South Asian Monsoon ◽

Dust Weather

Download Full-text

Impact of elevated precipitation, nitrogen deposition and warming on soil respiration in a temperate desert

10.5194/bg-2017-465 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Ping Yue ◽

Xiaoqing Cui ◽

Yanming Gong ◽

Kaihui Li ◽

Keith Goulding ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Soil Respiration ◽

Soil Temperature ◽

Carbon Dioxide Emissions ◽

Structural Equation ◽

Environmental Changes ◽

Northwest China ◽

N Deposition ◽

Single Factor ◽

Desert Ecosystems ◽

Temperate Desert

Abstract. Soil respiration (Rs) is the most important source of carbon dioxide emissions from soil to atmosphere. However, it is unclear what the interactive response of Rs would be to environmental changes such as elevated precipitation, nitrogen (N) deposition and warming, especially in unique temperate desert ecosystems. To investigate this an in situ field experiment was conducted in the Gurbantunggut Desert, northwest China, from September 2014 to October 2016. The results showed that precipitation and N deposition significantly increased Rs, but warming decreased Rs, which was mainly through its impact on the variation of soil moisture at 5 cm depth. In addition, the interactive response of Rs to combinations of the factors was much less than that of any single-factor, and the main interaction being a positive effect, except interaction from increased precipitation and high N deposition (60 kg N ha−1 yr−1). Although Rs was found to be a unimodal change pattern with the variation of soil mositure, soil temperature and soil NH4+-N content, and it was signicantly postively correlated to soil dissloved organic carbon (DOC) and pH, but from a structural equation model found that soil temperature was the most important controlling factor. Those results indicated that Rs was mainly interactively controlled by the soil multi-environmental factors and soil nutrients, and was very sensitive to elevated precipitation, N deposition and warming. But the interactions of multiple factors largely reduced between-year variation of Rs more than any single-factor, suggesting that the carbon cycle in temperate deserts could be profoundly influenced by positive carbon-climate feedbacks.

Download Full-text

Complex Pathways Towards Emergent Pastoral Settlements: New Research on the Bronze Age Xindian Culture of Northwest China

Journal of World Prehistory ◽

10.1007/s10963-021-09160-w ◽

2022 ◽

Author(s):

Yitzchak Jaffe ◽

Anke Hein ◽

Andrew Womack ◽

Katherine Brunson ◽

Jade d’Alpoim Guedes ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Environmental Changes ◽

Community Organization ◽

Northwest China ◽

Social Practices ◽

Subsistence Strategies ◽

Cultural Traditions ◽

The Third ◽

New Research ◽

The Bronze Age

AbstractThe Xindian culture of northwest China has been seen as a prototypical example of a transition toward pastoralism, resulting in part from environmental changes that started around 4000 years ago. To date, there has been little available residential data to document how and whether subsistence strategies and community organization in northwest China changed following or in association with documented environmental changes. The Tao River Archaeology Project is a collaborative effort aimed at gathering robust archaeological information to solidify our baseline understanding of economic, technological, and social practices in the third through early first millennia BC. Here we present data from two Xindian culture residential sites, and propose that rather than a total transition to nomadic pastoralism—as it is often reconstructed—the Xindian culture reflects a prolonged period of complex transition in cultural traditions and subsistence practices. In fact, communities maintained elements of earlier cultivation and animal-foddering systems, selectively incorporating new plants and animals into their repertoire. These locally-specific strategies were employed to negotiate ever-changing environmental and social conditions in the region of developing ‘proto-Silk Road’ interregional interactions.

Download Full-text

14C GEOCHRONOLOGY AND RADIOCARBON RESERVOIR EFFECT OF REVIEWED LAKES STUDY IN CHINA

Radiocarbon ◽

10.1017/rdc.2021.92 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-12

Author(s):

Weijian Zhou ◽

Yuda Chui ◽

Ling Yang ◽

Peng Cheng ◽

Ning Chen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Environmental Changes ◽

Piecewise Linear ◽

Eastern China ◽

Lacustrine Sediments ◽

Sedimentary Facies ◽

Northwest China ◽

Tibet Plateau ◽

Dominant Factor ◽

Climatic Regions ◽

Reservoir Age

ABSTRACT Lacustrine sediments are important archives for paleoclimate research, but there are evident carbon reservoir effects. Radiocarbon (14C) ages of lake sediments must be corrected for these effects before applying them to paleoclimate research. The authors review the lacustrine research from the last 20 years from different climatic regions in China, and systematically investigate the 14C age and correction methods used in the studies of 81 lakes. It is found that the climate-vegetation cover and distribution of carbonate around lakes are dominant factor controlling radiocarbon reservoir effects. In eastern China, the average 14C reservoir age is about 500 14C years and is associated with relatively dense vegetation. However, in northwest China and Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, widespread carbonate bedrock may markedly increase the radiocarbon reservoir age which frequently is about 1500 and 2500 14C years. A piecewise linear regression model provides more reliable 14C reservoir age correction that accounts for sedimentary facies and sedimentation rate changes. It is worth mentioning that when analyzing 14C ages deviated greatly from time sequence, the age anomalies may indicate important effects relevant to the study of climate and environmental changes.

Download Full-text