Temperature and Precipitation Changes in China During the Holocene

We review here proxy records of temperatare and precipitation in China during the Holocene,especially the last two millennia.The quality of proxy data,methodology of reconstruction,and uncertainties in reconstruction were emphasized in comparing different temperatare and precipitation reconstruction and clarilying temporal and spatial patterns of temperature and precipitation during the Holocene.The Holocene climate was generally warm and wet.The warmest period occurred in 9.6-6.2 cal ka BP,whereas a period of maximum monsoon precipitation started at about 11.0 cal ka BP and lasted until about 8.O-5.0 cal ka BP.There were a series of millennial-scale cold or dry events superimposed on the general trend of climate changes.During past two millennia,a warming trend in the 20th century was clearly detected,but the warming magnitude was smaller than the maximum level of the Medieval Warm Period and the Middle Holocene.Cold conditions occurred over the whole of China during the Little Ice Age (AD 1400-AD 1900),but the warming of the Medieval Warm Period(AD 900-AD 1300)was not distinct in China,especially west China.The spatial pattern of precipitation showed significant regional differences in China,especially east China.The modern warm period has lasted 20、years from 1987 to 2006.Bi-decadal oscillation in precipitation variability was apparent over China during the 20th century. Solar activity and volcanic eruptions both were major forcings governing the climate variability during the last millennium.     

Reconstructed Temperature And Precipitation On A Millennial Timescale From Tree-Rings In The Southern Colorado Plateau,U.S.A.

Two independent calibrated and verified climate reconstructions from ecologically contrasting tree-ring sites in the southern Colorado Plateau, U.S.A. reveal decadal-scale climatic trends during the past two millennia. Combining precisely dated annual mean-maximum temperature and October through July precipitation reconstructions yields an unparalleled record of climatic variability. The approach allows for the identification of thirty extreme wet periods and thirty-five extreme dry periods in the 1,425-year precipitation reconstruction and 30 extreme cool periods and 26 extreme warm periods in 2,262-year temperature reconstruction. In addition, the reconstructions were integrated to identify intervals when conditions were extreme in both climatic variables (cool/dry, cool/wet, warm/dry, warm/wet). Noteworthy in the reconstructions are the post-1976 warm/wet period, unprecedented in the 1,425-year record both in amplitude and duration, anomalous and prolonged late 20th century warmth, that while never exceeded, was nearly equaled in magnitude for brief intervals in the past, and substantial decadal-scale variability within the Medieval Warm Period and Little Ice Age intervals.     

Spatial Patterns of Precipitation Anomalies for 30-yr Warm Periods in China During the Past 2000 Years

The spatial patterns of precipitation anomalies during five 30-yr warm periods of 691-720, 1231-1260, 1741-1770, 1921-1950, and 1981-2000 were investigated using a dryness/wetness grading dataset covering 48 stations from Chinese historical documents and 22 precipitation proxy series from natural archives. It was found that the North China Plain (approximately 35 -40 N, east of 105 E) was dry in four warm periods within the centennial warm epochs of 600-750, the Medieval Warm Period (about 900-1300) and after 1900. A wet condition prevailed over most of China during 1741-1770, a 30-yr warm peak that occurred during the Little Ice Age (about 1650-1850). The spatial pattern of the precipitation anomaly in 1981-2000 over East China (25 -40 N, east of 105 E) is roughly consistent with that in 1231-1260, but a difference in the precipitation anomaly appeared over the Tibetan Plateau. The spatial patterns of the precipitation anomalies over China varied between all five 30-yr warm periods, which implies that the matching pattern between temperature and precipitation change is multiform, and the precipitation anomaly could be positive or negative when a decadal warm climate occurs in different climate epochs. This result may provide a primary reference for the mechanism detection and climate simulation of the precipitation anomaly of the future warm climate.     

Pairwise comparisons to reconstruct mean temperature in the Arctic Atlantic Region over the last 2,000 years

Existing multi-proxy climate reconstruction methods assume the suitably transformed proxy time series are linearly related to the target climate variable, which is likely a simplifying assumption for many proxy records. Furthermore, with a single exception, these methods face problems with varying temporal resolutions of the proxy data. Here we introduce a new reconstruction method that uses the ordering of all pairs of proxy observations within each record to arrive at a consensus time series that best agrees with all proxy records. The resulting unitless composite time series is subsequently calibrated to the instrumental record to provide an estimate of past climate. By considering only pairwise comparisons, this method, which we call PaiCo, facilitates the inclusion of records with differing temporal resolutions, and relaxes the assumption of linearity to the more general assumption of a monotonically increasing relationship between each proxy series and the target climate variable. We apply PaiCo to a newly assembled collection of high-quality proxy data to reconstruct the mean temperature of the Northernmost Atlantic region, which we call Arctic Atlantic, over the last 2,000 years. The Arctic Atlantic is a dynamically important region known to feature substantial temperature variability over recent millennia, and PaiCo allows for a more thorough investigation of the Arctic Atlantic regional climate as we include a diverse array of terrestrial and marine proxies with annual to multidecadal temporal resolutions. Comparisons of the PaiCo reconstruction to recent reconstructions covering larger areas indicate greater climatic variability in the Arctic Atlantic than for the Arctic as a whole. The Arctic Atlantic reconstruction features temperatures during the Roman Warm Period and Medieval Climate Anomaly that are comparable or even warmer than those of the twentieth century, and coldest temperatures in the middle of the nineteenth century, just prior to the onset of the recent warming trend.     

Extensive glaciers in northwest North America during Medieval time

The Medieval Warm Period is an interval of purportedly warm climate during the early part of the past millennium. The duration, areal extent, and even existence of the Medieval Warm Period have been debated; in some areas the climate of this interval appears to have been affected more by changes in precipitation than in temperature. Here, we provide new evidence showing that several glaciers in western North America advanced during Medieval time and that some glaciers achieved extents similar to those at the peak of the Little Ice Age, many hundred years later. The advances cannot be reconciled with a climate similar to that of the twentieth century, which has been argued to be an analog, and likely were the result of increased winter precipitation due to prolonged La Niña-like conditions that, in turn, may be linked to elevated solar activity. Changes in solar output may initiate a response in the tropical Pacific that directly impacts the El Niño/Southern Oscillation and associated North Pacific teleconnections.     

Chrysophyte cysts from lake sediments reveal the submillennial winter/spring climate variability in the northwestern Mediterranean region throughout the Holocene

In the last decade, much effort was dedicated to the reconstruction of past climate at high temporal resolution. Here, we show the suitability of chrysophyte cysts from lake sediments for revealing continental climate variability when used in sensitive sites, such as those in high mountains. We demonstrate that altitude is a main factor influencing the present distribution of chrysophytes and develop a transfer function to evaluate the local altitude anomaly on a lake site throughout time. Based on our knowledge of chrysophyte ecology, the altitude anomalies are interpreted as winter/spring climate signatures. The method was applied to a Holocene record from a lake in the Pyrenees showing submillennial climatic variability in this northwestern Mediterranean zone. A warming trend was present from the early Holocene to 4 kyear BP. Comparison with pollen-based reconstructions of summer temperatures denoted a contrasting decrease in continentality between the two parts of the Holocene. Oscillations of 1 cycle per ca. 2,000 years appeared throughout the record. The warmest Holocene winters were recorded during the Medieval Warm Period at ca. AD 900 and 450 and the Roman Warm Period (2.7–2.4 kyear BP). Winters in the period AD 1,050–1,175 were inferred to be as cold as in the Little Ice Age. The period between 3 and 7 kyear BP showed lower intensity in the fluctuations than in early and late Holocene. The cold event, 8,200 years ago, appeared embedded in a warm fluctuation. Another cold fluctuation was recorded around 9 kyear BP, which is in agreement with Irish and Greenland records.This revised version was published online in January 2005 with corrections to the background of figures 9 and 12.     

Holocene vegetation and climate history at Haligu on the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, Yunnan, SW China

This paper uses pollen analysis to investigate and document the changing climate and vegetation during the Holocene based on a 400?cm core in depth obtained at a wetland site at Haligu (3,277?m a. s. l.) on the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain in Yunnan, China. By applying the Coexistence Approach to pollen data from this core, a quantitative reconstruction of climate over the last 9,300?years was made based on each pollen zone and individual core sample, which reveals the temperature and precipitation change frequently during that time. The qualitative analyses show that from 9300 to 8700?cal. yr BP, the vegetation was dominated by needle-leaved forest (mainly Pinus and Abies), indicating a slightly cool and moderately humid climate. Between 8700 and 7000?cal. yr BP, evergreen broad-leaved forest, dominated by Quercus, became the predominant vegetation type, replacing needle-leaved forest at this elevation, implying a warmer and more humid climate. During the period 7000 to 4000?cal. yr BP, the vegetation changed to mixed needle-leaved and evergreen broad-leaved forest, indicating a warm and moderately humid climate, but somewhat cooler than the preceding stage. From 4000 to 2400?cal. yr BP, the vegetation was again dominated by evergreen broad-leaved forest, but coniferous trees (mainly Pinus) began to increase, especially relative to a decline in Quercus. This implies that the climate remained warm and humid but slight drier than previously. The evergreen Quercus phase (8700–2400?yr BP) was designated as the Holocene climatic optimum in the Haligu core sediments. It is correlated with a markedly greater abundance and diversity of pteridophytes spores than was recorded before or after this period. From 2400?cal. yr BP to present, the vegetation was dominated by needle-leaved forest, of which Pinus formed the predominant component, accompanied by Abies and Tsuga. This reflects a slightly cooler, humid climate but also correlates with a period of increasing human settlement on the lower slopes of the mountain. At this elevated site, several hundred metres above the highest present day settlements, direct palynological evidence of anthropogenic activity is uncertain but we discuss ways in which the marked decline in Quercus pollen during this period may reflect the impact of ways in which natural resources of the mountain have been utilised.     

Climatological Significance of Pollen Factors Revealed by Pollen-Climate Response Surface Functions in Dajiuhu, Shennongjia

Quantitative reconstructions of the mean July temperature and annual precipitation are performed based on pollen percentage contents from surface and stratum pollen samples, together with vertical meteorological observations across 700-2800 m in Dajiuhu, Shennongjia in Hubei Province of China. Canonical correspondence analysis and robust locally weighted regression of surface pollen samples are employed to investigate the relationship between plants and climate, and to build the seven pollen-climate response surface functions.Reconstructed results of the stable type assemblage exhibit the climate evolution since the Late-Glacial Period, including the Bálling-Allerád warm episode, Younger Dryas cold episode, Climatic Optimum, and cold events in 8 and 6.5 ka BP. The ranges of the mean July temperature and annual precipitation have been about 5°C and 300 mm since the Late-Glacial Period. Analysis of temperature and humidity reveals that Climatic Optimum with high temperature and precipitation occurred during early Holocene and former mid-Holocene, corresponding to the high resolution records in the low latitude region. The results indicate that the pollen-climate response surface functions are capable to valuate the comprehensive influence of temperature and precipitation on pollen content and can be used to reconstruct the past climate from pollen data.     

Detecting abrupt climate changes on different time scales

Two concepts are introduced for detecting abrupt climate changes. In the first case, the sampling frequency of climate data is high as compared to the frequency of climate events examined. The method is based on a separation of trend and noise in the data and is applicable to any dataset that satisfies some mild smoothness and statistical dependence conditions for the trend and the noise, respectively. We say that an abrupt change occurs when the first derivative of the trend function has a discontinuity and the task is to identify such points. The technique is applied to Northern Hemisphere temperature data from 1850 to 2009, Northern Hemisphere temperature data from proxy data, a.d. 200?C1995 and Holocene ??¹⁸O values going back to 11,700 years BP. Several abrupt changes are detected that are, among other things, beneficial for determining the Medieval Warm Period, Little Ice Age and Holocene Climate Optimum. In the second case, the sampling frequency is low relative to the frequency of climate events studied. A typical example includes Dansgaard?COeschger events. The methodology used here is based on a refinement of autoregressive conditional heteroscedastic models. The key element of this approach is the volatility that characterises the time-varying variance, and abrupt changes are defined by high volatilities. The technique applied to ??¹⁸O values going back to 122,950 years BP is suitable for identifying DO events. These two approaches for the two cases are closely related despite the fact that at first glance, they seem quite different.     

Late Holocene Asian summer monsoon dynamics from small but complex networks of paleoclimate data

Internal variability of the Asian monsoon system and the relationship amongst its sub-systems, the Indian and East Asian Summer Monsoon, are not sufficiently understood to predict its responses to a future warming climate. Past environmental variability is recorded in Palaeoclimate proxy data. In the Asian monsoon domain many records are available, e.g. from stalagmites, tree-rings or sediment cores. They have to be interpreted in the context of each other, but visual comparison is insufficient. Heterogeneous growth rates lead to uneven temporal sampling. Therefore, computing correlation values is difficult because standard methods require co-eval observation times, and sampling-dependent bias effects may occur. Climate networks are tools to extract system dynamics from observed time series, and to investigate Earth system dynamics in a spatio-temporal context. We establish paleoclimate networks to compare paleoclimate records within a spatially extended domain. Our approach is based on adapted linear and nonlinear association measures that are more efficient than interpolation-based measures in the presence of inter-sampling time variability. Based on this new method we investigate Asian Summer Monsoon dynamics for the late Holocene, focusing on the Medieval Warm Period (MWP), the Little Ice Age (LIA), and the recent period of warming in East Asia. We find a strong Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM) influence on the East Asian Summer Monsoon during the MWP. During the cold LIA, the ISM circulation was weaker and did not extend as far east. The most recent period of warming yields network results that could indicate a currently ongoing transition phase towards a stronger ISM penetration into China. We find that we could not have come to these conclusions using visual comparison of the data and conclude that paleoclimate networks have great potential to study the variability of climate subsystems in space and time.     

近千年青藏高原的温度变化

Temperature variations on the Tibetan Plateau during the last millennium are revealed by comparing a Qamdo tree-ring δ13C, the Dasuopu ice-core δ18O series, and a previous composite temperature reconstruction. Results show that an obvious warm period during 1200-1400 AD corresponds to the Medieval Warm Period (MWP) when summer temperature was 1.2℃ higher than the recent 1000 years average, and a cool phase from 1400 to 1700 AD, with summer temperature being 0.5℃lower than long-term average, can be correlated to the Little Ice Age (LIA). The 13th century was the warmest phase during the past 1000 years, while the coldest period occurred during 1000-1200 AD. The 20th century warming was characterized by rapid winter temperature rise while summer temperature at that time displayed a slight downward trend.     

全球气候变暖的检测及成因分析

文章对近年来有关全球气候变暖中一些问题的研究进展作了总结，主要结论如下:全球平均地面气温在过去一百年来上升0.5℃。80年代是近百年来最暖的10年。90年代初继续变暖。1990年是近百年来最暖的一年。1991年仅次於1990年。但是近百年气候变暖的幅度仍未超过自然变率。近千年中，中世纪暖期（900—1300年）的温暖程度就可能与20世纪相当，而小冰期（1550—1850年）气温则可能比20世纪低1.0—1.5℃。已经证实，对几十年到几百年尺度，太阳活动强时太阳总辐射也强，但变化幅度尚待进一步确定。强火山爆     

过去1500年典型暖期东亚夏季风年代际变化特征对比及其可能成因

利用通用地球系统模式开展的过去1500年气候模拟全强迫试验和对照试验结果，在验证模式模拟性能的基础上，采用多变量经验正交函数分解等方法，对比分析了典型暖期东亚夏季风年代际变化特征及其成因机制。结果表明，两个典型暖期东亚夏季风变化的主周期均为准10 a和准20 a。中世纪暖期黄河流域至日本南部一带降水偏多，长江流域以南和西北太平洋一带降水偏少；现代暖期东亚夏季风降水表现为“南涝北旱”型分布特征。内部变率是影响典型暖期东亚夏季风变化的主控因子之一，其中太平洋年代际振荡起决定性作用。当太平洋年代际振荡处于正位相时，热带西太平洋（东亚大陆）变暖（变冷），东亚地区海、陆热力差减小，对应弱的东亚夏季风。另外，中世纪暖期海平面气压的动态变化对应850 hPa风场在西北太平洋（日本海）一带均出现了经向排列的异常反气旋（气旋），从而导致中国南部（北部）降水偏多（偏少）。      

The ‘Little Ice Age’ glacial expansion in western Scandinavia: summer temperature or winter precipitation?

Reconstructing the temporal and spatial climate development on a seasonal basis during the last few centuries, including the ‘Little Ice Age’, may help us better understand modern-day interplay between natural and anthropogenic climate variability. The conventional view of the climate development during the last millennium has been that it followed a sequence of a Medieval Warm Period, a cool ‘Little Ice Age’ and a warming during the later part of the 19th century and in particular during the late 20th/early 21st centuries. However, recent research has challenged this rather simple sequence of climate development. Up to the present, it has been considered most likely that the ‘Little Ice Age’ glacial expansion in western Scandinavia was due to lower summer temperatures. Data presented here, however, indicate that the main cause of the early 18th century glacial advance in western Scandinavia was mild and humid winters associated with increased precipitation and high snowfall on the glaciers.     

中世纪温暖期气候变化的花粉化石记录

麦里泥炭剖面高分辨率花粉化石记录表明,东北科尔沁沙地在相当于中世纪温暖期阶段夏季降水量曾显著增加,主要表现为沙丘上的乔木和草本植物均获得了繁茂的生长,花粉沉积速率明显上升。作者推测,在中世纪温暖期中,欧亚大陆作为一个整体夏季温度可能暖于今天,这可能通过增强夏季风环流使中国东北夏季雨量增多,为沙丘植物茂盛生长提供了有利条件。     

The IPCC on a heterogeneous Medieval Warm Period

In their 2007 report, IPCC working group 1 refers to an increased heterogeneity of climate during medieval times about 1000 years ago. This conclusion would be of relevance, as it implies a contrast in the spatial signature and forcing of current warmth to that during the Medieval Warm Period. Our analysis of the data displayed in the IPCC report, however, shows no indication of an increased spread between long-term proxy records. We emphasize the relevance of sample replication issues, and argue that an estimation of long-term spatial homogeneity changes is premature based on the smattering of data currently available.     

耦合模式ICM模拟的近千年气候特征

利用中国科学院大气物理研究所季风系统研究中心发展的气候模式(Integrated Climate Model,ICM)开展了近千年气候模拟试验,考察了模式对过去千年温度和大气涛动变化的模拟,并分析了全球季风百年到千年尺度的变化。结果表明:模式对百年尺度气候变率有较好的模拟能力,900~1200年北半球平均表面温度偏高,1500~1800年温度偏低,模拟的北半球、南半球平均表面温度都呈现出了19世纪至2000年的快速增暖。模式对大气涛动百年尺度变化的模拟与重建资料存在较大的不同。全球季风在850~1050年、1150~1200年和1300~1420加强,在1210~1300年和1600~1850年减弱。1875~2000年全球季风指数呈直线上升趋势。中世纪气候异常期(MWP)季风强度在全球大部分季风区域增加,小冰期(LIA)则相反。20世纪暖期(PWP)全球季风强度显著增加,其中赤道西太平洋增加超过1 mm/d。     

新仙女木事件及全新世早中期降温事件——来自洱海湖泊沉积的记录

Three cold events (the Younger Dryas, 9.4 ka cal BP, 5.8 ka cal BP) since the 13 ka cal BP in Erhai (EH) Lake catchment, Yunnan Province, were analyzed using the Total Organic Carbon (TOC) series of the EH core. By comparison of the EH core, Qinghai Lake core and Guliya ice core, differences of these cold events were determined. Erhai Lake's responses to the global cold events were lagged in time and weakened in intensity in comparison with Qinghai Lake's. The latitude location of Erhai Lake and the obstruction of Tibetan Plateau may in part explain the differences. However, the remarkable cold event of 8.2 ka cal BP in the Guliya ice core was absent in the records of Erhai Lake and Qinghai Lake. Power spectrum analysis of the TOC proxy series shows that there were three kinds of millennial cycles, i.e. 5 ka, 2.3 ka, and 1.5 ka, in climate changes in Erhai Lake, which reveal the responses of climate to suborbit cycles.     

AN AGCM +SSiB MODEL SIMULATION ON CHANGES IN PALAEOMONSOON CLIMATE AT 21 KA BP IN CHINA*

The numerical simulation experiment of climate at Last Glacial Maximum (LGM.21 ka BP) in China is made by using an atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) coupled with land surface processes (AGCM+SSiB) and earth orbital parameters and boundary forcing conditions at21 ka.The modeled climate features are compared with reconstructed conditions at 21 ka from paleo-lake data and pollen data.The results show that the simulated climate conditions at 21 ka in China are fairly comparable with paleo-climatological data.The climate features at 21 ka in China from the experiment are characterized by a drier in the east and a wetter in the west and in the Tibetan Plateau as well.According to the analysis of distribution of pressure and precipitation,as well as the intensity of atmospheric circulation at 21 ka,monsoon circulation in eastern Asia was significantly weak comparing with the present.In the Tibetan Plateau,the intensity of summer monsoon circulation was strengthened,and winter monsoon was a little stronger than the present.The simulation with given forcing boundary conditions,especially the different vegetation coverage,can reproduce the climate condition at the LGM in China,and therefore provides dynamical mechanisms on the climate changes at 21 ka.     

Holocene changes in seasonal precipitation highlighted by fire incidence in eastern Canada

Postglacial fire history has been reconstructed for eastern Canada from charcoal-influx anomalies from 30 sites taken from a lacustrine charcoal database. The reconstruction exhibits coherent patterns of fire occurrence in space and time. The early Holocene is characterised by high fire incidence. There is a major change to much lower occurrence slightly after 8 ka BP. A return to more fire appears after 3 ka BP. This sequence does not fit with the hydro-climatic reconstruction deduced from lake level reconstructions for northeastern North America, which indicates a dry early and mid-Holocene, and a wet late-Holocene. Fire occurrence however closely matches summer relative humidity inferred from δ¹⁸O. The differences between fire frequency and lake level history, are due to changes in the seasonality of precipitation and drought frequency. Lake levels are essentially controlled by winter precipitation while summer precipitation controls fire occurrence. The early Holocene before 8–7.5 ka BP experienced dry summers due to higher solar radiation and dry adiabatic winds from the residual Laurentide Ice Sheet. The middle Holocene was dominated by wet summers due to stability of the Atlantic air mass over eastern Canada. After 2.5 ka BP, summers became drier, albeit not as fire-conducive as during the early Holocene. Late-Holocene summers conducive to fire are explained by more frequent incursions of dry Cool Pacific or Cold Arctic air masses over eastern Canada. Received: 25 January 1999 / Accepted: 14 December 1999