The browser you are using is not supported by this website. All versions of Internet Explorer are no longer supported, either by us or Microsoft (read more here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/windows/end-of-ie-support).

Please use a modern browser to fully experience our website, such as the newest versions of Edge, Chrome, Firefox or Safari etc.

Default user image.

Zhengyao Lu

Researcher

Default user image.

Orbital hydroclimate variability revealed by grain-size evidence in the tropical Pacific Islands since 140 ka

Author

  • Xiaojie Tang
  • Zhaojie Yu
  • Zhengyao Lu
  • Lina Song
  • Zehua Song
  • Christophe Colin
  • Giuseppe Siani
  • Xiaoying Kang
  • Fengming Chang
  • Franck Bassinot
  • Shiming Wan
Show all

Summary, in English

The past evolution of precipitation and atmospheric convection in the Western Pacific Warm Pool (WPWP) is critical for global climate changes but is under debate because of its forcing mechanisms. Here, we present a high temporal resolution (∼156 years) grain-size record of core MD01–2385 over the last 140 kyr, in offshore northern New Guinea to reveal sediment dynamics as a proxy for precipitation changes. End-member analysis revealed that a two-endmember model was optimal. The end-member 1/end-member 2 (EM1/EM2) ratio could represent the variation in grain size and exhibited significant precessional cycles changes in phase with modelled Niño 3 SST anomaly from a global climate model transient simulation. From these data, we inferred orbital fluctuations in precipitation from tropical western Pacific islands, with general precipitation peaks during the time of perihelion at the boreal autumnal equinox (midpoint from a low to high precession index), corresponding to La Niña-like conditions and vice versa. Comparisons of our new record with published precipitation records showed that orbital precipitation changes in the WPWP are mainly dominated by El Niño-Southern Oscillation-like (ENSO-like) oscillations in the precession band, while the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) mainly controls the distribution of precipitation over a larger spatial area.

Department/s

  • BECC: Biodiversity and Ecosystem services in a Changing Climate
  • MERGE: ModElling the Regional and Global Earth system
  • Dept of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science

Publishing year

2024-05

Language

English

Publication/Series

Global and Planetary Change

Volume

236

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Elsevier

Topic

  • Climate Research

Keywords

  • ENSO
  • Grain size
  • Orbital timescales
  • Precipitation
  • Western Pacific Warm Pool

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 0921-8181