Pollen evidence for a mid-Holocene East Asian summer monsoon maximum in northern China

Abstract Changes in the intensity of the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) are critical for regulating the regional hydrology, ecology, and human civilization, especially in the vicinity of the summer monsoon limit (SML). However, the detailed spatial variations of the SML in mainland China over the past 2000 years are uncertain due to the lack of high-resolution paleoclimate archives. As a result, the accurate location of the SML during the transition from the Medieval Warm Period (MWP) to the Little Ice Age (LIA), as well as its impacts on ecology and society, are poorly understood. Here, we report a potential location of the SML during the late Holocene by combining data from a lake sedimentary record and a compilation of paleoclimate records from arid northern China. We find that EASM intensity was strong during the MWP and that the SML in arid northern China was roughly located along the Yinshan Mountains, Yabulai Mountains, and north of Lake Qinghai. EASM intensity dramatically weakened during the MWP-LIA transition, and the SML retreated southeastward significantly, which may have primarily but nonlinearly been a response to the reduction in solar irradiance and its associated changes in atmospheric circulation (e.g., El Niño–Southern Oscillation and Siberian High) and could have had profound impacts on hydrology, ecology, and human civilization across northern monsoonal Asia.

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Quantitative precipitation reconstructions from Chagan Nur revealed lag response of East Asian summer monsoon precipitation to summer insolation during the Holocene in arid northern China

Quaternary Science Reviews ◽

10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106365 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 239 ◽

pp. 106365 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Guoqiang Li ◽

Zhong Wang ◽

Wenwei Zhao ◽

Ming Jin ◽

Xiaoyan Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Summer Monsoon ◽

East Asian Summer Monsoon ◽

Asian Summer Monsoon ◽

East Asian ◽

Northern China ◽

Monsoon Precipitation ◽

The Holocene ◽

Summer Insolation ◽

Asian Summer

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Vegetation feedback causes delayed ecosystem response to East Asian Summer Monsoon Rainfall during the Holocene

Nature Communications ◽

10.1038/s41467-021-22087-2 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Jun Cheng ◽

Haibin Wu ◽

Zhengyu Liu ◽

Peng Gu ◽

Jingjing Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Soil Moisture ◽

Summer Monsoon ◽

East Asian Summer Monsoon ◽

Monsoon Rainfall ◽

Asian Summer Monsoon ◽

East Asian ◽

Northern China ◽

Tree Cover ◽

Proxy Records ◽

Asian Summer

AbstractOne long-standing issue in the paleoclimate records is whether East Asian Summer Monsoon peaked in the early Holocene or mid-Holocene. Here, combining a set of transient earth system model simulations with proxy records, we propose that, over northern China, monsoon rainfall peaked in the early Holocene, while soil moisture and tree cover peaked in the mid-Holocene. The delayed ecosystem (soil moisture and tree cover) response to rainfall is caused by the vegetation response to winter warming and the subsequent feedback with soil moisture. Our study provides a mechanism for reconciling different evolution behaviors of monsoon proxy records; it sheds light on the driving mechanism of the monsoon evolution and monsoon-ecosystem feedback over northern China, with implications to climate changes in other high climate sensitivity regions over the globe.

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