Decadally-resolved sea surface temperature and salinity records of the East Sea (Japan Sea) over the last 2000 years
Abstract
The East Asia monsoon is an important component of Earth's climate system, yet its dynamical processes are not sufficiently understood. Previous studies indicate a strong coupling between monsoon circulation and northern hemisphere climate change on interannual to decadal time scales. However, our understanding of monsoon variability and teleconnections to high- and low-latitude mechanisms on longer time scale remains insufficient. In this study, decadally-resolved continuous sea surface temperature and salinity records over the last 2000 years from alkenone and planktonic foraminiferal oxygen isotope ratio analyses of East Sea (Japan Sea) marine sediments have been reconstructed to investigate East Asia monsoon variability. The results show that during the Medieval Climate Anomaly, East Asia was characterized by surface warming with a strengthened summer monsoon. Summer monsoon-related precipitation increased and pluvials possibly dominated in the region at that time. On the other hand, Asia monsoon failure and severe drought is characteristic of the Little Ice Age. Comparisons of the records with other paleoclimate records indicate a possible connection between changes in the mid-latitude East Asia monsoon, Arctic Oscillation (AO)/North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), and Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) over the period.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2013
- Bibcode:
- 2013AGUFMPP51C1971L
- Keywords:
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- 4954 PALEOCEANOGRAPHY Sea surface temperature;
- 4901 PALEOCEANOGRAPHY Abrupt/rapid climate change;
- 3344 ATMOSPHERIC PROCESSES Paleoclimatology;
- 1050 GEOCHEMISTRY Marine geochemistry