Tropical Climate Instability: The Last Glacial Cycle from a Qinghai-Tibetan Ice Core

Thompson, Lonnie G.; Yao, Tandong; Davis, M. E.; Henderson, Keith; Mosley‐Thompson, Ellen; Lin, Ping-Nan; Beer, J.; Synal, Hans-Arno; Cole‐Dai, Jihong; Bolzan, John F.

doi:10.1126/science.276.5320.1821

Cited by 1,023 publications

(683 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…kyr BP. This period is also recognized as the Holocene Optimum period in reviews by An et al (2000) and Herzschuh (2006), and is furthermore consistent with a maximum in the Asian Summer Monsoon recorded in ice core records from Tibetan Plateau (Guliya, Thompson et al, 1997;Dunde, Liu et al, 1998), marine records (Overpeck et al, 1996) and terrestrial monsoon records from outside our study area (Fleitmann et al, 2003(Fleitmann et al, , 2007. The mapping of moisture indices reveals regional differences.…”

Section: Spatial and Temporal Climate Patterns In Monsoonal Central Asupporting

confidence: 48%

Asynchronous evolution of the Indian and East Asian Summer Monsoon indicated by Holocene moisture patterns in monsoonal central Asia

Wang

Liu

Herzschuh

2010

Earth-Science Reviews

298

111

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a b s t r a c t a r t i c l e i n f oThe numerical meta-analysis of 92 proxy records (72 sites) of moisture and/or temperature change confirms earlier findings that the dominant trends of climatic evolution in monsoonal central Asia since the Last Glacial roughly parallel changes in Northern Hemisphere summer insolation, i.e. the period following the Last Glacial Maximum was characterized by dry and cold conditions until 15 cal. kyr BP, followed by a warm, wet period coincident with the Bølling/Allerød warm period and terminated by a cold, dry reversal during the Younger Dryas period. After an abrupt increase at the start of the Holocene, warm and wet conditions prevailed until ca. 4 cal. kyr BP when moisture levels and temperatures started to decrease. Ordination of moisture records reveals strong spatial heterogeneity in moisture evolution during the last 10 cal. kyr. The Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM) areas (northern India, Tibetan Plateau and southwest China) exhibit maximum wet conditions during the early Holocene, while many records from the area of the East Asian Summer Monsoon indicate relatively dry conditions, especially in north-central China where the maximum moisture levels occurred during the mid-Holocene. We assign such phenomena to strengthened Hadley Circulation centered over the Tibetan Plateau during the early Holocene which resulted in subsidence in the East Asian monsoonal regions leading to relatively dry conditions. Our observations of the asynchronous nature of the two Asian monsoon subsystems on millennial time scales have also been observed on annual time-scales as well as implied through the spatial analysis of vertical air motion patterns after strong ascending airflows over the Tibetan Plateau area that were calculated from NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data for the last 30 years. Analogous with the early Holocene, the enhancement of the ISM in a 'future warming world' will result in an increase in the asynchronous nature of the monsoon subsystems; this trend is already observed in the meteorological data from the last 15 years.

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Section: Spatial and Temporal Climate Patterns In Monsoonal Central Asupporting

confidence: 48%

Asynchronous evolution of the Indian and East Asian Summer Monsoon indicated by Holocene moisture patterns in monsoonal central Asia

Wang

Liu

Herzschuh

2010

Earth-Science Reviews

298

111

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“…9(B) and (C)). Geochemical data from Tibetan and Himalayan ice cores show that there have been numerous glacier oscillations on millennial timescales throughout the Last Glacial (Thompson et al, 1989(Thompson et al, , 1997Thompson, 2000). The multiple peaks in the probability plots for the TCN ages likely reflect many of these glacier oscillations.…”

Section: Timing Of Glaciationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quaternary glaciation of the Himalayan–Tibetan orogen

Owen

Caffee

Finkel

et al. 2008

J Quaternary Science

212

143

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Glacial geological evidence from throughout the Himalayan-Tibetan orogen is examined to determine the timing and extent of late Quaternary glaciation in this region and its relation to similar changes on a global scale. The evidence summarised here supports the existence of expanded ice caps and extensive valley glacier systems throughout the region during the late Quaternary. However, it cannot yet be determined whether the timing of the extent of maximum glaciation was synchronous throughout the entire region or whether the response was more varied. The lack of organic material needed for radiocarbon dating has hindered past progress in glacial reconstruction; however, application of optically stimulated luminescence and terrestrial cosmogenic radionuclide methods has recently expanded the number of chronologies throughout the region. Limits to the precision and accuracy available with these methods and, more importantly, geological uncertainty imposed by processes of moraine formation and alteration both conspire to limit the time resolution on which correlations can be made to Milankovitch timescales (several ka). In order to put all studies on a common scale, well-dated sites have been re-evaluated and all the published terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide ages for moraine boulders and glacially eroded surfaces in the Himalayan-Tibetan orogen have been recalculated. Locally detailed studies indicate that there are considerable variations in the extent of glaciation from one region to the next during a glaciation. Glaciers throughout monsoon-influenced Tibet, the Himalaya and the Transhimalaya are likely synchronous both with climate change resulting from oscillations in the South Asian monsoon and with Northern Hemisphere cooling cycles. In contrast, glaciers in Pamir in the far western regions of the Himalayan-Tibet orogen advanced asynchronously relative to the other regions that are monsooninfluenced regions and appear to be mainly in phase with the Northern Hemisphere cooling cycles. Broad patterns of local and regional variability based on equilibrium-line altitudes have yet to be fully assessed, but have the potential to help define changes in climatic gradients over time.

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“…from Kenya (Johnson et al, 1991), from high latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere (Briffa et al, 1992;Scuderi, 1993) and in California (Burroughs, 1992). An ∼200-year oscillation has been reported in Californian dendrochronological studies (Burroughs, 1992), from marine cores near the Antarctic Peninsula (Leventer et al, 1996), from Tibetan ice cores (Thompson et al, 1997), and from peat deposits in Scotland (Chambers et al, 1997) and Denmark (Aaby, 1976). Suggested possible forcing mechanisms for ∼200-year oscillations include solar variability Braziunas, 1989, 1993;Suess and Linick, 1990) and lunar tidal effects (Burroughs, 1992).…”

Section: Variability Over the Period Of Meteorological Recordmentioning

confidence: 99%

Millennial to multi‐decadal variability in the climate of southern Africa

Tyson

Cooper

McCarthy

2002

Intl Journal of Climatology

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Wavelet analysis has been used to determine changes in the variability of southern Africa climate over the last three millennia. The structure of the variability in a 3000-year δ 18 O record has been compared with that in tree ring data for the last 600 years and both to the variability in annual rainfall and runoff during the 20th century. Preferred modes of variability are shown to have occurred in all the data sets. For overlap periods, the variability modes are in phase where the data are for a common seasonal rainfall regime.From the combined proxy and instrumental data it appears that an ∼1500-year oscillation in rainfall variability may have been present during the late Holocene. Considerable variability in South African climate has been shown to reside in the bands 500-800 and 60-120 years. The latter is manifest in stable isotope and tree ring proxy data and in measured rainfall and runoff, and shows a distinctive latitudinal variation over southern Africa. The ∼80-year variability has been present for at least 600 years in the tree ring data and at least 3000 years in the stable isotope data. During the 20th century, the variability in the 60-120-year range was confined south of 20°S in southern Africa.The existence of considerable multi-decadal climate variability in the range 16-20 years has been confirmed south of 15°S. Tree ring data show that the ∼18-year oscillation in climate has been present for at least 600 years. The 500-800-year, ∼80-year and ∼18-year variability has been both frequency-and amplitude-modulated over time, but never to the extent that the variability bands have lost their integrity. Their persistence is a striking feature of southern African climate.The millennial, centennial and multi-decadal variability in climate over southern Africa finds counterparts with temporal variability in similar time ranges reported elsewhere. Spatial teleconnections in variability likewise have been shown to occur. The changes in climate variability over the subcontinent are part of variability changes affecting the Earth system in many other regions.

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Tropical Climate Instability: The Last Glacial Cycle from a Qinghai-Tibetan Ice Core

Cited by 1,023 publications

References 54 publications

Asynchronous evolution of the Indian and East Asian Summer Monsoon indicated by Holocene moisture patterns in monsoonal central Asia

Asynchronous evolution of the Indian and East Asian Summer Monsoon indicated by Holocene moisture patterns in monsoonal central Asia

Quaternary glaciation of the Himalayan–Tibetan orogen

Millennial to multi‐decadal variability in the climate of southern Africa

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