Dynamics of the intertropical convergence zone over the western Pacific during the Little Ice Age

Wet and cold climate conditions recorded by coral geochemical proxies during the beginning of the first millennium CE in the northern South China Sea

“…We found that the coral δ 18 O sw series and the stalagmite δ 18 O record are anti-correlated (r = -0.40, n = 108, p < 0.0001) and follow a similar variational trend (Figure 7). Their anti-correlation may suggest that the hydrological conditions in northern China and in the SCS were opposite at the annual timescale during the late Eastern Han to Western Jin periods, which is similar to the situation at these two study sites at the century timescale during the LIA as indicated by Yan et al (2015b). The …”

“…This stalagmite δ 18 O record, together with a record based on lake sediments and ostracod shells in the SCS, has been used to study the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) over the western Pacific during the LIA, and the results indicated a dry LIA in northern China, but a wet LIA in the SCS (Yan et al, 2015b). Considering the climatic similarity between our study interval and the LIA described above, this stalagmite δ 18 O record was used for our comparative study.…”

“…To better understand present-day climate conditions and the potential trend of future climate change, it is important to extend the temporal scale of investigation into the last two millennia (Taira, 1980;Fritz et al, 2000;Hu et al, 2001;Booth et al, 2006;Mann, 2007;Anderson et al, 2010;Tierney et al, 2010;Vuille et al, 2012;Consortium, 2013;Wurtzel et al, 2013;Denniston et al, 2015;Donnelly et al, 2015;Yan et al, 2015b). The importance of the last two millennia is that they include some distinct climate intervals.…”

Earth science wrestles with conflict-of-interest policies

“…Soon also published a study 3 in March in Nature Geoscience on atmospheric conditions during the Little Ice Age -a 500year cool period that began around the 1400s -with out reporting his funding. Nature Publishing Group (which also publishes Nature) says that Soon complied with its policies, which require the disclosure of financial ties that are relevant to the research in question.…”

Seasonal modulation of the Asian summer monsoon between the Medieval Warm Period and Little Ice Age: a multi model study

“…Past monsoon variability has been addressed both from paleoenvironmental reconstructions based on proxy records and from numerical climate simulations (e.g., Kutzbach et al 2008;Zhang et al 2008;Battisti et al 2014;Masson-Delmotte et al 2014;Fallah and Cubasch 2015;Yan et al 2015). Variations in summertime temperature over the continents in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) in response to seasonal insolation anomalies brought on by changes in orbital parameters (including the longitude of perihelion precession) are an essential factor in past monsoon variability (e.g., COHMAP members 1988; Mohtadi et al 2016).…”