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Title: Atmospheric connections with the North Atlantic enhanced the deglacial warming in northeast China

Journal Article · · Geology
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1130/g39401.1· OSTI ID:1565697
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [3];  [5]
  1. Northwest Univ., Xian (China). State Key Lab. of Continental Dynamics, Dept. of Geology
  2. Univ. of Bristol (United Kingdom). School of Chemistry, Cabot Inst.
  3. Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Xian (China). State Key Lab. of Loess and Quaternary Geology
  4. Xi'an Polytechnic Univ., Xian (China). School of Environmental & Chemical Engineering
  5. China Univ. of Geosciences, Wuhan (China). State Key Lab. of Biogeology and Environmental Geology
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Variations in atmospheric circulation across the last deglaciation in the northernmost monsoon-influenced regions of Asia are not well constrained, highlighting a fundamental gap in our understanding of Asian climate. Here we reconstruct continental air temperatures for northeast China across the last deglaciation (past 16 k.y.), based on the distribution of bacterial branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers in a sequence of the Hani peat (Jilin Province, northeast China). Our results indicate large (as much as 10 °C) oscillations in temperature in northeast China across the deglaciation, oscillations significantly larger than observed in other temperature records from low-latitude or same-latitude East Asia, but consistent with climate model simulations. This enhanced magnitude, as well as the timing of temperature variations, provides evidence for atmospheric teleconnections with high latitudes; in particular, we suggest that high-latitude cooling associated with Arctic ice expansion and changes in Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation enhanced the intensity and lowered the temperature of Eurasian mid-latitude westerlies and northwesterly winds over East Asia during the last glacial, delivering cold air masses to northeast China. During the deglaciation the westerlies and therefore delivery of cold air masses weakened, amplifying the deglacial warming in this region. We conclude that changes in North Atlantic climate had a particularly strong impact on the northernmost parts of the East Asian monsoon–influenced area.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
OSTI ID:
1565697
Journal Information:
Geology, Vol. 45, Issue 11; ISSN 0091-7613
Publisher:
Geological Society of AmericaCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 40 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (5)

A global database of Holocene paleotemperature records journal April 2020
14 kyr of atmospheric mineral dust deposition in north-eastern China: A record of palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental changes in the Chinese dust source regions journal December 2019
Assessing branched tetraether lipids as tracers of soil organic carbon transport through the Carminowe Creek catchment (southwest England) journal January 2020
A global database of Holocene paleotemperature records text January 2020
A global database of Holocene paleotemperature records text January 2020

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