The East Asian winter monsoon over the last 15,000 years: its links to high-latitudes and tropical climate systems and complex correlation to the summer monsoon

The East Asian winter monsoon (EAWM) not only plays an important role within the Asian climate system, but also carries cold air from the high northern latitudes across the Equator to the Southern Hemisphere, acting as a link between the polar and tropical climate systems. However, past changes of the EAWM have not been clearly established so far due to the lack of suitable proxy records. Here, we at first establish an index of the EAWM by comparing the results of a sediment trap experiment and 100-year sedimentary record from Huguang Maar Lake (HML) with modern records of the EAWM, Siberian High (SH) and Arctic Oscillation (AO). Secondly, we present a continuous record of the strength of the EAWM for the past 14,500 years based on sedimentary diatom assemblages in HML. The record is derived from fluctuations in the relative abundance of two planktonic diatom species. The link with the EAWM intensity is through high wind speeds inducing turbulent mixing, which stimulates the productivity of the meroplanktonic species Aulacoseira granulata. The diatom record of the past 14,500 years shows that the EAWM shifted from strong to weak from the early to late Holocene. This linked to both changes in winter temperature at high-latitudes and in El Niño conditions in the tropics. Our record shows that the EAWM and East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) as recorded in stalagmites, were in-phase instead of anti-correlated on orbital time scales during the Holocene. On a millennial time scales, the EAWM was anti-phase with the EASM during the Last Glacial–Holocene transition. However, during the early–middle Holocene the relationship between the EAWM and EASM shows spatial variations. In northern China, the records show significant anti-phase, but in southern China the anti-phase was not observed. During the late Holocene, we did not find any clear relationship between the EAWM and EASM. We also explored the link between the EAWM and the Australian summer monsoon (ASM). Anti-phase of the ASM with summer insolation in the Southern Hemisphere is an enigmatic exception that cannot be explained by the classic theory of insolation. During early Holocene the EAWM was in-phase with the Australian summer monsoon (ASM), which provides the first direct evidence to support the hypothesis that the intensity of the EAWM affected, at least in part, the strength of the ASM.

► We present a sedimentary diatom record of the East Asian winter monsoon (EAWM).
► The EAWM shifted from strong to weak from the early to late Holocene.
► The winter and summer monsoons were not anti-correlated on orbital time scale.
► On a millennial time scale, their correlation shows spatial and temporal variability.
► Our record supports the idea of the EAWM affecting the Australian summer monsoon.