Modulation and amplification of climatic changes in the Northern Hemisphere by the Indian summer monsoon during the past 80 k.y.

High-frequency suborbital variations (Dansgaard-Oeschger cycles) characteri ze the climatic history of the Northern Hemisphere as observed in Greenland ice cores, deep-sea sediments of the North Atlantic, the Californian borde rland, the Arabian Sea, the South China Sea, and the Chinese loess area. Pa leoceanographic data from core KL126 from the Bay of Bengal in combination with data from the other Asian monsoonal areas indicate that the feedback p rocesses involving snow and dust of the Tibetan Plateau vary the summer mon soon capacity to transport moisture into central South Asia and into the at mosphere. We postulate that the summer monsoon initiates, amplifies, and te rminates these cycles in the Northern Hemisphere.