过去224000年千年和轨道尺度东亚季风变化

已有研究表明,中国洞穴石笋高分辨率记录对了解亚洲季风气候驱动机制有巨大潜力。但由于缺乏最近两个冰期/间冰期旋回完整的高精度定年记录,特别是缺失了关于轨道尺度和千年尺度事件变化规律的关键部分,很难完整地理解季风成因机制。本文基于湖北神农架洞穴内石笋的精确同位素测试结果,建立了高精度U/Th年龄控制的22.4万年来高分辨率洞穴石笋同位素气候序列。结果表明亚洲夏季风强度变化具有强烈的岁差旋回特征（2.3万年周期）,在误差范围内与北半球65°N处7月21日太阳辐射曲线在强度和时间上基本一致,支持了季风变化直接响应于太阳辐射的假说。同时发现,叠加在最后两个冰期旋回中的千年尺度气候振荡频率具有相似性,与全球冰盖消长密切相关,证实了相关数值模拟结果。亚洲季风千年尺度事件定年准确,可以作为全球对比的标准。

Millennial-and Orbital-scale Changes in the East Asian Monsoon over the Past 224,000 Years

High-resolution speleothem records from China have provided insights into the factors that control the strength of the East Asian monsoon. Our understanding of these factors remains incomplete, however, owing to gaps in the record of monsoon history over the past two interglacial-glacial cycles. In particular, missing sections have hampered our ability to test ideas about orbital-scale controls on the monsoon, the causes of millennial-scale events and relationships between changes in the monsoon and climate in other regions. Here we presented an absolute-dated oxygen isotope record from Sanbao cave, central China, that completes a Chinesecave-based record of the strength of the East Asian monsoon that covers the past 224,000 years. The record is dominated by 23,000-year-long cycles that are synchro- nous within dating errors with summer insolation at 65°N, supporting the idea that tropical/subtropical monsoons respond dominantly and directly to changes in Northern Hemisphere summer insolation on orbital timescales. The cycles are punctuated by millennial-scale strong-summer-monsoon events （Chinese interstadials）,and the new record allows us to identify the complete series of these events over the past two interglacial-glacial cycles. Their duration decreases and their frequency increases during glacial build-up in both the last and penultimate glacial periods, indicating that ice sheet size affects their character and pacing. The ages of the events are exceptionally well constrained and may thus serve as benchmarks for correlating and calibrating climate records.