Paleo-Megadroughts and Abrupt Climate Changes in the Speleothem Records. Final report
This project is motivated by the speleothem isotope records in Asia, which show regional responses in the hydrologic cycle to different climate forcings. Speleothem isotopic records are typically interpreted in terms of local precipitation variations or monsoon intensity. Our study demonstrates that non-local processes also play an important role. We started this project to understand the regional difference in speleothem isotopic composition between the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and the present-day. The record in Southwest China showed greater depletion during the LGM compared to those in East China. Our modeling and analysis showed that speleothems record, in addition, large scale changes in atmospheric circulation and moisture transport and their subsequent impact on precipitation. We developed an algorithm to partition total precipitation according to their formation dynamics, namely into frontal and non-frontal precipitation, and showed that the two have different trends and hence different causal mechanism. We then focused our subsequent attention on circulation impacts on precipitation changes. We applied a machine learning algorithm to detect rainbands in the ERA-Interim reanalysis product, and showed that the seasonal migrations of the rainbands are tied to the seasonal migrations of the jet stream, in particular the northerlies of the jet meanders. These northerlies, in turn, are partly topographic Rossby waves excited as the upstream westerlies impinge on the Tibetan Plateau. The seasonal variations of these upstream westerlies thus contribute to the seasonal movements of the rainbands and regional precipitation changes. Our analysis of the modern precipitation isotope record further confirms the importance of jet stream changes in the isotopic variations and shows that isotope-enriched years have reduced summer seasonality, with less pronounced northward migration of the jet.
- Research Organization:
- Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
- DOE Contract Number:
- SC0014078
- OSTI ID:
- 1695486
- Report Number(s):
- DOE-UCBerkeley-14078
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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