Climate changes in northern China since the late Pleistocene and its response to global change

Abstract

Nine representative high resolution profiles with reliable 14C chronologies have been chosen from the monsoon sensitive areas in China (winter monsoon from the north-west, and summer monsoon from the east) to provide a comparative picture of climate change within these areas. Comprehensive analyses of stratigraphic sequences and climatic proxy data have been used to reconstruct a history of fluctuating dry and wet environmental conditions in these monsoon sensitive areas since the last deglaciation. These records have also been compared with Greenland ice core and Guliya ice core data. Four major events representing these climate fluctuations (E1–E4) are recognised. Among them, E3 indicates an abrupt cooling event after the Younger Dryas interval. This event has so far only been recognised in China and high latitude areas in the northern hemisphere. It is proposed that century to millenial scale global temperature changes affect the intensity of monsoon circulation through ocean/atmosphere interactions, hence producing dry and wet climate fluctuations in monsoon sensitive areas. In an era of global warming, the overall picture presented by the sequences of wet/dry periods recorded in Chinese monsoon affected areas during the last deglaciation can be used as an historical analogue for future predictions of medium to long term climate change within these areas.