Warming-induced northwestward migration of the East Asian monsoon rain belt from the Last Glacial Maximum to the mid-Holocene

The southward displacement of the East Asian monsoon rain belt heightens concerns over the warming-induced drying of northern China. Paleovegetation change on the Chinese Loess Plateau provides insights into future climate changes. We find that the spatial distribution of C₄ plant biomass is a robust analog for the monsoon rain belt, which migrated at least 300 km to the northwest from the cold Last Glacial Maximum (∼19 ka) to the warm Holocene (∼4 ka). These results strongly support the idea that the Earth's thermal equator will move northward in a warmer world, and that the observed southward migration of the monsoon rain belt over the last few decades is transient and northern China will eventually become wet as global warming advances.