Strong summer monsoon during the cool MIS-13

Q. Z. Yin (1, 2) , Z. T. Guo (1)

1 IGG - Institute of Geology and Geophysics [Beijing]
2 Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics G. Lemaître

The ?¹⁸O record in deep-sea sediments show a significant reduced amplitude of the ice volume variations before Marine Isotope Stage 11, about 400 kyr ago, with less warm interglacials and less cold glacials. The deuterium temperature and the greenhouse gases records in the Antarctic ice cores show the same feature. As the reduction in the amplitude of climate and greenhouse gases concentration variations before 400 kyr BP is present in both deep-sea and ice cores, it is tempting to conclude that this is a worldwide phenomenon. This is not necessarily true, at least as far as some of the records, in particular of China, are concerned. The loess in northern China, the sedimentary core in the eastern Tibetan Plateau and the palaeosols in southern China all record an unusually warm and wet climate during Marine Isotope Stage 13, indicating an extremely strong East Asian summer monsoon. During the same interglacial, unusually strong African and Indian monsoon are recorded in the sediments of the equatorial Indian Ocean and of the Mediterranean Sea. Other extreme climate events are also recorded in sediment cores of the equatorial Atlantic, the Pacific, the subtropical South Atlantic Ocean and in the Lake Baikal of Siberia.

Domaines: Interfaces continentales, environnement; Sciences de la Terre

Q. Z. Yin, Z. T. Guo. Strong summer monsoon during the cool MIS-13. Climate of the Past Discussions, 2007, 3 (5), pp.1119-1132. ⟨hal-00298199⟩