A Test of Climate, Sun, and Culture Relationships from an 1810-Year Chinese Cave Record

Zhang, Pingzhong; Cheng, Hai; Edwards, R. Lawrence; Chen, Fahu; Wang, Yongjin; Yang, Xunlin; Liu, Jian; Tan, Ming; Wang, Xiangfeng; Liu, Jinghua; An, C. B.; Dai, Zhibo; Zhou, Jing; Zhang, Dezhong; Jia, Jihong; Jin, Liya; Johnson, K. R.

doi:10.1126/science.1163965

Cited by 951 publications

(849 citation statements)

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“…This record suggests that the summer monsoon was moderately strong between AD 190-530, gradually declined after AD 530 and was markedly weaker between AD 860-940 (Zhang et al, 2008) (Figure 4a and c). The offset of 60-140 years between the two data sets at the beginning and end of the weaker summer monsoon period, respectively, may stem from chronological uncertainties.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…The stronger/weaker summer monsoon intervals presented in Figure 4a-f follow the interpretation of the respective authors and present a fairly coherent picture of Asian summer monsoon variability. The terrestrial plant leaf wax (δD wax ) record established from marine sediments from the Makassar Strait, Southwest Sulawesi (Tierney et al, 2010) is the only high-resolution record extending as far back as Pa Kho, while the Wanxiang Cave δ 18 O data set commences around AD 200 (Zhang et al, 2008). All other high-resolution records only cover the last 1400 years (central India composite record) (Berkelhammer et al, 2010;Sinha et al, 2011aSinha et al, , 2011bSinha et al, , 2007; the last 1000 years (Dongdao Island) (Yan et al, 2011) or the past 700-800 years (MADA data set; Dayu Cave) (Buckley et al, 2007(Buckley et al, , 2014Cook et al, 2010;Tan et al, 2009) (Figure 4a-f).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Wang et al, 2005). Yet high-resolution tree ring , marine (Anderson et al, 2002;Newton et al, 2006;Oppo et al, 2009), coral (Cobb et al, 2003), speleothem (Sinha et al, 2011a;Zhang et al, 2008), and lake (Yancheva et al, 2007) studies show that substantial decadal to centennial variations in summer monsoon intensity were superimposed on the longterm trend. Various hypotheses have been brought forward through the last millennium Pages 2K, Consortium, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Various hypotheses have been brought forward through the last millennium Pages 2K, Consortium, 2013). MADA and key speleothem records from China and India suggest, for example, a general weakening of the summer monsoon between AD 1400-1800 and a link between intense droughts during the 14th and 15th centuries and the demise of ancient societies in various parts of Asia (Buckley et al, , 2014Sinha et al, 2011b;Zhang et al, 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Hydroclimatic shifts in northeast Thailand during the last two millennia – the record of Lake Pa Kho

Chawchai

Chabangborn

Fritz

et al. 2015

Quaternary Science Reviews

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Hydroclimatic shifts in northeast Thailand during the last two millennia – the record of Lake Pa Kho

Chawchai

Chabangborn

Fritz

et al. 2015

Quaternary Science Reviews

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“…Studying past climate can improve our understanding of the processes and mecha-nisms behind the climate variability experienced, and can provide researchers with a scientific basis for better forecasting future climate change. In recent years, studies on past climate in eastern China have yielded regional proxybased temperature records [5][6][7][8][9], dry/wet indexes [10][11][12] or precipitation [13][14][15][16] time series with record lengths of 1000-2650 years at various temporal resolutions. These data are reconstructed using historical documents, stalagmites, tree rings, ice cores, and lake sediments.…”

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confidence: 99%

Simulated analysis of summer climate on centennial time scale in eastern China during the last millennium

et al. 2011

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Using Lanczos filtered simulation results from the ECHO-G coupled ocean-atmosphere model, this study analyzes the spatiotemporal structure of temperature and precipitation on centennial time scale to examine how climate change in eastern China responded to external forcing during the last millennium. The conclusions are (1) eastern China experienced a warm-cold-warm climate transition, and the transition from the warm period to the cold period was slower than the cold to warm transition which followed it. There was more rainfall in the warm periods, and the transitional peak and valley of precipitation lag those of temperature. The effective solar radiation and solar irradiance have significant impacts on the temporal variation of both temperature and precipitation. Volcanic activity plays an important role in the sudden drop of temperature before the Present Warm Period (PWP). There is a positive correlation between precipitation and volcanic activity before 1400 A.D., and a negative relationship between the two thereafter. The concentration of greenhouse gases increases in the PWP, and the temperature and precipitation increase accordingly. (2) The spatial pattern of the first leading empirical orthogonal function (EOF) mode of temperature on centennial time scale is consistent with that on the inter-annual/inter-decadal (IA-ID) time scales; namely, the entirety of eastern China is of the same sign. This pattern has good coherence with effective solar radiation and the concentrations of greenhouse gases. The first leading EOF mode of precipitation on centennial time scale is totally different from that on the IA-ID time scales. The first leading mode of centennial time scale changes consistently over the entirety of eastern China, while the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers are the opposite to the rest of eastern China is the leading spatial pattern on IA-ID time scale. The distribution of precipitation on centennial time scale is affected by solar irradiance and greenhouse gas concentrations.

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Weakening of the East Asian summer monsoon at 1000–1100 A.D. within the Medieval Climate Anomaly: Possible linkage to changes in the Indian Ocean‐western Pacific

Liu

Chen

et al. 2014

JGR Atmospheres

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Monsoon droughts, especially on a decadal-to-centennial timescale, may have a profound impact on the populations of East Asia. Previous work has suggested that the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) was synchronously strong across East Asia during the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA, 900-1300 A.D.); however, there is a dearth of studies addressing the issue of whether or not the EASM varied significantly during the entire duration of the MCA. Here we present results from a diverse range of proxy paleoclimatic records from the monsoonal and temperate Asian region in order to evaluate the occurrence of such short timescale variability within the MCA. Within the context of an overall strong EASM during the MCA, a weakening of the monsoon was detected in many of the records during the period 1000-1100 A.D. Comparison of the timing of this event with variations of sea surface temperature (SST) of the Indian Ocean-western Pacific and with proxy records of solar activity reveals a significant covariation, suggesting that the driver of the event may have resulted from changes in the Indian Ocean-western Pacific, related to changes in solar activity. To further address the issue of a terrestrial-oceanic linkage, we used the ECHAM and the global Hamburg Ocean Primitive Equation (ECHO-G) coupled climate model to simulate the variation of EASM precipitation over the last millennium. The model results suggest an interval of weak East Asian summer monsoon at 1000-1100 A.D., and they also reveal a significant positive correlation with the SST of the Indian Ocean-western Pacific.

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A Test of Climate, Sun, and Culture Relationships from an 1810-Year Chinese Cave Record

Abstract: A test of climate, sun, and culture relationships from an 1810-year Chinese cave record.

Cited by 951 publications

References 24 publications

Hydroclimatic shifts in northeast Thailand during the last two millennia – the record of Lake Pa Kho

Hydroclimatic shifts in northeast Thailand during the last two millennia – the record of Lake Pa Kho

Simulated analysis of summer climate on centennial time scale in eastern China during the last millennium

Weakening of the East Asian summer monsoon at 1000–1100 A.D. within the Medieval Climate Anomaly: Possible linkage to changes in the Indian Ocean‐western Pacific

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