Tele-connections between East Asian Monsoon and the High-latitude Climate: A Comparison between the GISP2 Ice Core Record and the High Resolution Marine Records from the Japan and the South China Seas.

Abstract

Based on the high resolution marine sediment records from the Japan and the South China Seas, a comparison to the GISP 2 ice core record suggests a climatic tele-connections between the low-to-mid latitude East Asian Monsoon climate and that over the high latitude Greenland during the last glacial period. Episodic warm periods of Dansgaard-Oeschger events are correlated to the periods when increased monsoon precipitation caused excess of rainfall in South and East China, hence the decrease in sea surface salinity in the South China Sea, and to the development of the dark laminated sediment layers due to the reduced vertical ventilation by a fresh water lid in the Japan Sea. The possible link in this tele-connection is believed to be a counterbalance between the westerly and the southwest-to-southeast summer monsoon wind. Whenever the high latitude polar Greenland was warmed up, the westerly would have reduced in its strength and/or extension. Consequently, the monsoon circulation culminated in the East Asia due to the increased land-sea pressure contrast during summer, when the low pressure cell over mid-high latitude land areas was intensified due to the high-latitude warming.