Abstract. In the Asian monsoon region, variations in the stable isotopic composition of speleothems have often been attributed to the "amount effect". However, an increasing number of studies suggest that the "amount effect" in local precipitation is insignificant or even non-existent. To explore this issue further, we examined the variability of daily stable isotopic composition (δ 18 O) in precipitation from September 2011 to November 2014 in Nanjing, eastern China. We found that intra-seasonal variations of δ 18 O during summer were not significantly correlated with local rainfall amount but could be linked to changes in the moisture source location and rainout processes in the source regions. Our findings suggest that the stable isotopes in summer precipitation could signal the location shift of precipitation source regions in the inter-tropical convergence zone (ITCZ) over the course of the monsoon season. As a result, changes in moisture source location and upstream rainout effect should be taken into account when interpreting the stable isotopic composition of speleothems in the Asian monsoon region. In addition, the temperature effect on isotopic variations in non-monsoonal precipitation should also be considered because precipitation in the non-monsoon season accounts for about half of its annual precipitation.

A review of Holocene climatic variations in different parts of China shows that they were asynchronous. Proxy data from ice cores, pollen, loess, lacustrine sediments, and changes of sea and lake levels demonstrate that many warm and cold oscillations have occurred in China during the Holocene, including a most important climatic event known as the “Holocene optimum,” a milder and wetter period, and that the duration and amplitude of the optimum period, as well as its start and end times, differed in different parts of China. Uplift of the Tibetan plateau over the past millions of years led to the development of the monsoon climate and to complex atmospheric circulation over continental China during the Holocene. As a result, the Holocene optimum began and terminated earlier in high-altitude regions of western China than at lower elevations in eastern China, and the amplitude of the variations was lower in the east. This suggests that the western higher-altitude areas were more sensitive to climatic change than were the eastern lower-altitude areas. Holocene climatic records in the Dunde and Guliya ice cores do not correspond. Inverse δ18O variations between the two cores indicate that the effects of climate and atmospheric processes on the stable isotopes at the two sites differed. The correlation between the isotopic composition of carbonates in lake deposits in western China and climatic variations is similar to that in the ice cores. The climatic resolution in ice cores and lake sediments is higher than that in other media. The lack of precise correspondence of climatic records constructed on the basis of proxy data from different parts of China is a result of the different locations and elevations of the sampling sites, the different resolutions of the source material, and the varied climatic conditions within China. Further work is needed to confirm both the conclusions and the inferences presented here.

Abstract. An accurate chronology is the essential first step for a sound understanding of ice core records. However, dating ice cores drilled from the high-elevation glaciers is challenging and often problematic, leading to great uncertainties. The Guliya ice core, drilled to the bedrock (308.6 m in length) along the western Kunlun Mountains on the northwestern Tibetan Plateau (TP) and widely used as a benchmark for palaeoclimate research, is believed to reach > 500 ka (thousand years) at its bottom. Meanwhile other Tibetan ice cores (i.e. Dasuopu and East Rongbuk in the Himalayas, Puruogangri in the central TP and Dunde in the north-eastern TP) are mostly of Holocene origin. In this study, we drilled four ice cores into bedrock (216.6, 208.6, 135.8 and 133.8 m in length, respectively) from the Chongce ice cap ∼ 30 km to the Guliya ice core drilling site. We took measurements of 14 C, 210 Pb, tritium and β activity for the ice cores, and used these values in a two-parameter flow model to establish the ice core depth-age relationship. We suggested that the Chongce ice cores might be of Holocene origin, consistent with the other Tibetan ice cores except Guliya. The remarkable discrepancy between the Guliya and all the other Tibetan ice core chronology implies that more effort is necessary to explore multiple dating techniques to confirm the age ranges of the TP glaciers, including those from Chongce and Guliya.

Climatic data, ice core records, the tree ring index, and recorded glacier variations have been used to reconstruct a history of climatic and glacial changes in the monsoonal temperate glacier region of southwestern China during the last 400 years. The region's temperature has increased in a fluctuating manner during the twentieth century after two cold stages of the Little Ice Age (seventeenth to nineteenth centuries), with a corresponding retreat of most of the glaciers, against a background of global warming. Retreat rates accelerated after the 1980s. The few advancing glaciers that did exist have started to retreat in recent years. The amount, trend, and amplitude of variation of precipitation have differed in different parts of the region. The Dasuopu ice core, from the western part of the region, shows a decreasing trend in precipitation, the converse of the trend in temperature. In the eastern part of the region, however, a rising trend of rainfall has accompanied increasing temperatures as a result of the variable atmospheric circulations from different sources. The southwest monsoon, the principal controlling factor in the Chinese monsoonal temperate glacier region, can be classified into the Indian monsoon and the Bengal monsoon. The former passes across the Indian Peninsula from the Arabian Sea and transports vapor for precipitation in the western part of the monsoonal temperate glacier region. The Bengal monsoon, originating in the Bay of Bengal, is the major source of precipitation in the eastern part of the region. The eastern part is also influenced by the southeast monsoon arriving from the western Pacific, and the western part is affected in winter by the southern branch of the westerly circulation. This complex atmospheric situation results in differing patterns of precipitation in the western and eastern zones. Although it is clear that both temperature and precipitation affect the glaciers, further work is needed to confirm which of these is the major factor influencing present glacier change.