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The Position of the Current Warm Period in the Context of the Past 22,000 Years of Summer Climate in China
Author(s) -
Shi Feng,
Lu Huayu,
Guo Zhengtang,
Yin Qiuzhen,
Wu Haibin,
Xu Chenxi,
Zhang Enlou,
Shi Jiangfeng,
Cheng Jun,
Xiao Xiayun,
Zhao Cheng
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2020gl091940
Subject(s) - climatology , precipitation , holocene , climate change , context (archaeology) , china , environmental science , forcing (mathematics) , period (music) , climate state , greenhouse gas , glacial period , global warming , physical geography , geography , geology , effects of global warming , oceanography , meteorology , physics , archaeology , geomorphology , acoustics
Identifying the position of the Current Warm Period (CWP) in the context of the long‐term climatic trend is vital for understanding the impact of human activity on climate change. Reconstructions of summer temperature and precipitation in eight subregions of China over the past 22,000 years show that the CWP summer temperature and precipitation in these subregions are all lower than in the Early to Middle Holocene. The timing of the Holocene temperature and precipitation peaks in northern China (including Northwest China, North China, and Northeast China) is mainly determined by orbital forcing. Greenhouse gas forcing and the land ice‐sheet help to fine‐tune the timing of the climate maxima. These findings show that the climate since the Last Glacial Maximum in northern China is more sensitive to nonanthropogenic external forcings, whereas the summer precipitation in Southwest China since the early 20th century is controlled more by anthropogenically forced changes.