Millennial- and orbital-scale changes in the East Asian monsoon over the past 224,000 years
- PMID:18305541
- DOI: 10.1038/nature06692
Millennial- and orbital-scale changes in the East Asian monsoon over the past 224,000 years
Abstract
High-resolution speleothem records from China have provided insights into the factors that control the strength of the East Asian monsoon. Our understanding of these factors remains incomplete, however, owing to gaps in the record of monsoon history over the past two interglacial-glacial cycles. In particular, missing sections have hampered our ability to test ideas about orbital-scale controls on the monsoon, the causes of millennial-scale events and relationships between changes in the monsoon and climate in other regions. Here we present an absolute-dated oxygen isotope record from Sanbao cave, central China, that completes a Chinese-cave-based record of the strength of the East Asian monsoon that covers the past 224,000 years. The record is dominated by 23,000-year-long cycles that are synchronous within dating errors with summer insolation at 65 degrees N (ref. 10), supporting the idea that tropical/subtropical monsoons respond dominantly and directly to changes in Northern Hemisphere summer insolation on orbital timescales. The cycles are punctuated by millennial-scale strong-summer-monsoon events (Chinese interstadials), and the new record allows us to identify the complete series of these events over the past two interglacial-glacial cycles. Their duration decreases and their frequency increases during glacial build-up in both the last and penultimate glacial periods, indicating that ice sheet size affects their character and pacing. The ages of the events are exceptionally well constrained and may thus serve as benchmarks for correlating and calibrating climate records.
Comment in
- Palaeoclimate: the rhythm of the rains.Overpeck J, Cole J.Overpeck J, et al.Nature. 2008 Feb 28;451(7182):1061-3. doi: 10.1038/4511061a.Nature. 2008.PMID:18305532No abstract available.
Similar articles
- The Holocene Asian monsoon: links to solar changes and North Atlantic climate.Wang Y, Cheng H, Edwards RL, He Y, Kong X, An Z, Wu J, Kelly MJ, Dykoski CA, Li X.Wang Y, et al.Science. 2005 May 6;308(5723):854-7. doi: 10.1126/science.1106296.Science. 2005.PMID:15879216
- Orbital and millennial-scale features of atmospheric CH4 over the past 800,000 years.Loulergue L, Schilt A, Spahni R, Masson-Delmotte V, Blunier T, Lemieux B, Barnola JM, Raynaud D, Stocker TF, Chappellaz J.Loulergue L, et al.Nature. 2008 May 15;453(7193):383-6. doi: 10.1038/nature06950.Nature. 2008.PMID:18480822
- Indian monsoon variability on millennial-orbital timescales.Kathayat G, Cheng H, Sinha A, Spötl C, Edwards RL, Zhang H, Li X, Yi L, Ning Y, Cai Y, Lui WL, Breitenbach SF.Kathayat G, et al.Sci Rep. 2016 Apr 13;6:24374. doi: 10.1038/srep24374.Sci Rep. 2016.PMID:27071753Free PMC article.
- Links between climate and sea levels for the past three million years.Lambeck K, Esat TM, Potter EK.Lambeck K, et al.Nature. 2002 Sep 12;419(6903):199-206. doi: 10.1038/nature01089.Nature. 2002.PMID:12226674Review.
- Milankovitch theory and monsoon.Cheng H, Li H, Sha L, Sinha A, Shi Z, Yin Q, Lu Z, Zhao D, Cai Y, Hu Y, Hao Q, Tian J, Kathayat G, Dong X, Zhao J, Zhang H.Cheng H, et al.Innovation (Camb). 2022 Oct 19;3(6):100338. doi: 10.1016/j.xinn.2022.100338. eCollection 2022 Nov 8.Innovation (Camb). 2022.PMID:36353675Free PMC article.Review.
Cited by
- LA-ICPMS forIn Situ U-Th Dating of Holocene Stalagmites.Wu CC, Shen CC, Günther D, Hattendorf B.Wu CC, et al.Anal Chem. 2024 Aug 6;96(31):12640-12648. doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.4c01114. Epub 2024 Jul 23.Anal Chem. 2024.PMID:39042444Free PMC article.
- Basic mechanism for abrupt monsoon transitions.Levermann A, Schewe J, Petoukhov V, Held H.Levermann A, et al.Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009 Dec 8;106(49):20572-7. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0901414106. Epub 2009 Oct 26.Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009.PMID:19858472Free PMC article.
- Temporal and spatial characteristics of sediment sources on the southern Yangtze Shoal over the Holocene.Cao C, Cai F, Zheng Y, Wu C, Lu H, Bao J, Sun Q.Cao C, et al.Sci Rep. 2018 Oct 22;8(1):15577. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-33757-5.Sci Rep. 2018.PMID:30349016Free PMC article.
- Millennial and orbital scale variability of the South American Monsoon during the penultimate glacial period.Burns SJ, Welsh LK, Scroxton N, Cheng H, Edwards RL.Burns SJ, et al.Sci Rep. 2019 Feb 4;9(1):1234. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-37854-3.Sci Rep. 2019.PMID:30718651Free PMC article.
- Climatic Factors Drive Population Divergence and Demography: Insights Based on the Phylogeography of a Riparian Plant Species Endemic to the Hengduan Mountains and Adjacent Regions.Wang ZW, Chen ST, Nie ZL, Zhang JW, Zhou Z, Deng T, Sun H.Wang ZW, et al.PLoS One. 2015 Dec 21;10(12):e0145014. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0145014. eCollection 2015.PLoS One. 2015.PMID:26689776Free PMC article.
Publication types
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources
Miscellaneous