Climate changes in northern China since the late Pleistocene and its response to global change

Nine representative high resolution profiles with reliable C-14 chronologie s have been chosen from the monsoon sensitive areas in China (winter monsoo n from the north-west. and summer monsoon from the east) to provide a compa rative picture of climate change within these areas. Comprehensive analyses of stratigraphic sequences and climatic proxy data ha,,e been used to reco nstruct a history of fluctuating dry and wet environmental conditions in th ese monsoon sensitive areas since the last deglaciation. These records have also been compared with Greenland ice core and Guliya ice core data. Four major events representing these climate fluctuations (E1-E4) are recognised . Among them, E3 indicates an abrupt cooling event after the Younger Dryas interval. This event has so far only been recognised in China and high lati tude areas in the northern hemisphere. It is proposed that century to mille nial scale global temperature changes affect the intensity of monsoon circu lation through ocean/atmosphere interactions, hence producing dry and wet c limate fluctuations in monsoon sensitive areas. In an era of global warming . the overall picture presented by the sequences of wet/dry periods recorde d in Chinese monsoon affected areas during the last deglaciation can be use d as an historical analogue for future predictions of medium to long term c limate change within these areas. (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Science Lt d.