Events of abrupt change of Indian monsoon recorded in Dasuopu ice core from Himalayas

Three ice cores distributed across Dasuopu glacier in Himalayas were recovered. A 400-year net annual accumulation record reconstructed from one of the cores reflects the major precipitation trend in the central Himalayas. This record is related closely to the Indian monsoon precipitation. Wavelet and moving T-test were applied to the 400-year-long Dasuopu accumulation record, and significant staggered variability and abrupt change of the record on interannual to centennial time scales are identified. Finally the possible reason for abrupt change of the accumulation record is discussed.     

Relationship between calcium and atmospheric dust recorded in Guliya ice core

By the analyses of Guliya ice core on the Tibetan Plateau, it was found that the calcium (Ca^2 ) originated from the terrestrial source is the main cation of soluble aerosol and a good proxy of the atmospheric component and environment in the mountain ice core located in the mid-low latitude arid regions. Evident variation of Ca^2 concentration has been found in the Guliya ice core since the Last lnterglaciation with two relatively strong increase periods and two weak increase periods. These variations are generally related to climatic changes: high Ca^2 concentration periods coincide with cold periods and low Ca^2 concentration periods coincide with warm periods. However, Ca^2 concentration does not always decrease (increase) with climate warming (cooling). The magnitude and phase of Ca^2 concentration does not always match temperature either. The changes of atmospheric circulation, land surface condition and atmospheric humidity might be important factors which influence Ca^2 concentration besides temperature.     

Precipitation variability in central Himalayas and its relation to Northern Hemisphere temperature

Agriculture, industry and hydroelectric power in south Asia are heavily dependent on the performance of the summer (June to September) monsoon rainfall, which provides 75—90% of the annual rainwater over most parts of the area. A weak monsoon year generally corresponds to low crop yields. And strong monsoon usually produces abundant crops, although too much rainfall may produce devastating floods. However, modeling efforts to forecast the monsoon have met with only moderate success[1]. Prev…     

Glacier variations and climate warming and drying in the central Himalayas

Repeat measurements of glacier terminus positions show that glaciers in the central Himalayas have been in a continuous retreat situation in the past decades. The average retreat rate is 5.5-8.7 m/a in Mt. Qomolangma(Everest) since the 1960s and 6.4 m/a in Mt. Xixiabangma since the 1980s. In recent years, the retreat rate is increasing.Ice core studies revealed that the accumulation rate of glaciers has a fluctuating decrease trend in the last century with a rapid decrease in the 1960s and a relatively steady low value afterwards. Meteorological station record indicates that the annual mean temperature has a slow increase trend but summer temperature had a larger increase in the past 30 a. All these suggest that the glacier retreat results from precipitation decrease in combination with temperature increase,and hence glacier shrinkage in this region will speed up if the climatic warming and drying continues.     

The summer monsoon evolution recorded by carbon isotope of organic matter from the Yuanbao loess section during the Last Interglaciation

Based on the carbon isotope record of organic matter from the Yuanbao loess section, northwestern China, five enhanced summer monsoon events were observed at this area during the Last Interglaciation. Such events were also recorded by the paleosol layers, pollen assemblage and magnetic susceptibility. It is suggested that the enhanced summer monsoon leads to the shift of vegetation type, which results in the change of δ¹³C value of organic matter in the paleosol layer. It appears that the δ¹³C of organic matter is a good indicator for the summer monsoon variation. Among these five events, the first, second and the fifth reached their maximum smoothly, but the other two had experienced a less cold stage before reaching their peaks, which suggests that the mechanisms of such events may be different.     

Decrease trend of dust event frequency over the past 200 years recorded in the Malan ice core from the northern Tibetan Plateau

By analyses of the dust layers in the Malan ice core from the northern Tibetan Plateau, it was found that dirty ratio in this core might be a good proxy for dust event frequency. The variations in the dirty ratio displayed a decrease trend over the past 200 years, which implies that dust events became less frequent during the study period. The decrease trend in the variations in dust event frequency might be caused mostly by the natural processes, including increasing precipitation and weakening westerly which might be related with global warming. Furthermore, significant negative correlation was found between the dirty ratio and δ^18O in the Malan ice core. This is highly important for studying the effect of atmospheric dust on climate change.     

Inter-decadal variations,causes and future projection of the Asian summer monsoon

The present paper presents a concise summary of our recent studies on the Asian summer monsoon, with highting decadal and inter-decadal scales. The studies on the long-term variations of the Asian summer monsoon and its impacts on the change in the summer precipitation in China are reviewed. Moreover, recent changes in the Asian summer monsoon and summer precipitation in East Asia （including Meiyu precipitation） are discussed. Finally, the future changes of the Asian summer monsoon are also pointed out in this paper.     

Changes in South Asian monsoon: New high-resolution paleoclimatic records from Tibet, China

High-resolution pollen records from 6 small lakes in the Tibetan Plateau provided the details of evolution of South Asian monsoon since the Last Glacial Maximum. Prior to 16 kaBP, the region was a desert-steppe characterized by cold and dry climates, the January temperature was 7 -10℃lower than that of present and the annual precipitation only accounted for 40% of the present. The temperature and precipitation increased gradually and trees began to live in the region after 12 kaBP, but during the interval from 9.2 to 6.3 kaBP, forest and forest-meadow appeared occasionally. From 8 to 5 kaBP, both January and July temperature was 2-3℃ higher and annual precipitation was also about 200 mm higher than that of the present. After 5 kaBP, temperature and precipitation decreased linearly and steppe vegetation began to degenerate.     

Sr-Nd isotope geochemistry of eolian dust of the arid-semiarid areas in China： Implications for loess provenance and monsoon evolution

Strontium (Sr) is a divalent alkaline earth element. Its ionic radius (0.113 nm) is slightly larger than that of calcium (0.099 nm), and Sr thus substitutes isomor- phously for Ca in many minerals. Neodymium (Nd) is a rare earth element. Its chemical prop…     

Recent area and ice volume change of Kangwure Glacier in the middle of Himalayas

This paper calculated and evaluated the area and ice volume changes of Kangwure Glacier in Mt. Xixiabangma, middle of Himalayas in the past 3 decades, based on the field survey of glacier boundary position by differential GPS and glacier depth by Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), together with the topographic map and remote sense data. The studied data showed that the Kangwure Glacier has experienced significant mass deficit since the 1970s, with 34.2% of area loss, 48.2% of ice volume loss and 7.5 m of average thickness decrease. This result revealed that the ice volume loss of Himalayan glaciers was more serious than expected. Analysis of meteorological data from two weather stations in the region of Mt. Xixiabangma, shows that the air temperature of this region has risen from the middle of the 20th century to the beginning of the 21st century. Significant retreat of Himalayas glacier driven by climatic warming will have a remarkable impact on hydrology and ecosystem.     

Recent temperature increase recorded in an ice core in the source region of Yangtze River

Interests on climate change in the source region of Yangtze River have been raised since it is a region with the greatest warming over the Tibetan Plateau (TP). A 70-year history of precipitation δ~(18)O has been recovered using an ice core record retrieved in a plat portion of the firn area in the Guoqu Glacier (33°34′37.8″N, 91°10′35.3″E, 5720 m a.s.l.), Mt. Geladaindong (the source region of Yangtze River), in November, 2005. By using a significant positive relationship between ice core δ~(18)O record and summer air temperature (July to September) from the nearby meteorological stations, a history of summer air temperature has been reconstructed for the last 70 years. Summer temperature was relatively low in 1940s and high in 1950s to the middle of 1960s. The lowest temperature occurred in the middle of 1970s. Temperature was low in 1980s and dramatically increased since 1990s, keeping the trend to the begin-ning of the 21st century. The warming rate recorded in the ice core with 0.5℃/10 a since 1970s is much higher that that in the central TP and the Northern Hemisphere (NH), and it becomes 1.1℃/10 a since 1990s which is also higher than these from the central TP and the NH, reflecting an accelerated warm-ing and a more sensitive response to global warming in the high elevation region.     

ENSO对东亚夏季风和我国夏季降水的影响研究进展

回顾了最近几年我国学者在ENSO对东亚夏季风和我国夏季降水影响方面的研究成果,通过夏季风时降水的影响分析ENSO对夏季降水的作用,结合1997-1998年的ENSO现象,对前人的理论和统计结果进行了讨论,指出除了ENSO发生的时间、区域、强度外,其增长和衰减率在这一问题的研究中也值得关注。     

2006年南海夏季风爆发过程数值模拟

本文用中尺度模式MM5V37对2006年南海（SCS）夏季风爆发过程进行了数值模拟。结果表明，模拟结果很好的反映了此次季风爆发的过程及与季风爆发相伴台风演变过程。从而证明了通过台风的协助，南海上空的季风风场和水汽通道的建立，南海夏季风建立的过程。     

Change in the tilting of the ridgeline surface of the subtropical anticyclone and the predictability of the onset of the Asian summer monsoon

The NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data are used to study the relationships among the change in the tilting of the ridgeline surface of the subtropical anticyclone, the establishment of the so-called "seasonal transition axis (STA)" and the onset of the Asian summer monsoon. It is shown that the monsoon onset is characterized by the overturning of the meridional temperature gradient (MTG) in the vicinity of the ridgeline surface. A MTG index is then constructed to investigate the predictability of the Asian summer monsoon onset conceptually. Data diagnoses show that if the initial MTG is known and the meridional gradient across the ridgeline surface of the local temperature tendency can be estimated, a late or early onset of the summer monsoon can be qualitatively predicted in advance.     

夏季风建立期间低层流场的变化及其与中国雨带活动的关系

本利用多年欧洲中心格点风和中国降水资料，分析了夏季风建立期间，亚洲南部及其邻近海域上低层流场的变化和雨带在中国南方的活动。结果表明，夏季风于5月中在南海地区建立。低层流场的变化主要表现为副热带高压脊从南海的东撤和气旋性气流切变线从中国西南向华南沿海的东伸。相应地，雨带有一次从南移转向北推的过程。由于5月份中南半岛－南海区域一直为西南气流所影响，因此，很难从风向来判断气流性质的变化，相对而言，雨带北移能更好地反映出夏季风向北扩散的地理位置。     

Interdecadal variation of tropical cyclone activity in association with summer monsoon, sea surface temperature over the western North Pacific

Based on geographic division over the western North Pacific (WNP), the interdecadal relationships between summer monsoon, sea surface temperature (SST) and tropical cyclones activity (including number, track and intensity) are examined. In the past several decades, the western Pacific subtropical high (WPSH) and tropical westerlies contribute to the interdecadal variation of TC number in the northwest and southeast of WNP respectively. The increased TC occurrence density to the east of Philippines related to TC track appears during the 1990s, in terms of both steer flow induced by WPSH and genesis location. From the interdecadal viewpoint, the tendency of TC intensity, measured by averaged accumulated cyclone energy, does well agree with that of SST, implying that SST plays an important role in TC intensity. Supported by Special Scientific Research Project for Public Interest (Grant No. GYHY200806009) and National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2009CB421505)     

Pollen record from red clay sequence in the central Loess Plateau between 8.10 and 2.60 Ma

The origin and development of Asian monsoon circula-tion, the desertification and aridification of Asian inland in relation to vegetation evolution and the soil erosion in northwest China have been more and more drawing inten-sive scientific and society attention. Recently the studiesof monsoon evolution from some Tertiary Red Clay sec-tions located at the central Loess Plateau in the eastern Liupan Mountains, based on chronology, dust flux, grains size, magnetic susceptibility, and rates o…