0 INTRODUCTION.The intensification of global warming is generating increasing risks to human society and sustainable development,which are of growing concern to the international scientific community and policymakers(...0 INTRODUCTION.The intensification of global warming is generating increasing risks to human society and sustainable development,which are of growing concern to the international scientific community and policymakers(Sun,2023).The ecosystems of the Asian drylands are fragile and highly sensitive to global changes;moreover,while these drylands are the most important areas of oasis agriculture on Earth,their water resources are being adversely impacted by ongoing climate change(Zhang et al.,2023).Hence,an improved understanding of the patterns of climate change in this region is important and attracting increasing research attention.展开更多
Deserts are the most distinctive landscapes in the arid zones of midlatitude Asia,producing over 600 Tg of dust annually and serving as primary sources of mineral dust for the Northern Hemisphere.This dust is carried ...Deserts are the most distinctive landscapes in the arid zones of midlatitude Asia,producing over 600 Tg of dust annually and serving as primary sources of mineral dust for the Northern Hemisphere.This dust is carried by the westerlies and the East Asian winter monsoon to downwind regions including East Asia,the northern Pacific Ocean,and even Greenland,influencing the global climate,global biogeochemical cycles,ocean productivity,Northern Hemisphere glaciations,and human health.展开更多
The Tibetan Plateau(TP)is an important link between the South Asian monsoon(SAM)region,the East Asian monsoon region,and the drylands of Central Asia.Climate changes within these regions are dominated by both the mons...The Tibetan Plateau(TP)is an important link between the South Asian monsoon(SAM)region,the East Asian monsoon region,and the drylands of Central Asia.Climate changes within these regions are dominated by both the monsoon and the westerlies.This has prompted the scientific community to adopt a broad spatial perspective,proposing concepts such as the"Pan-Third Poleoor"Asian summer precipitationo,to better understand the regional climate dynamics,their driving mechanisms,and the resulting major ecological and environmental impacts.展开更多
Asian dust storms have long been a major environmental concern in China,affecting the lives of about one billion people.However,it is unclear whether the mechanisms responsible for Asian dust storms during the Holocen...Asian dust storms have long been a major environmental concern in China,affecting the lives of about one billion people.However,it is unclear whether the mechanisms responsible for Asian dust storms during the Holocene varied on different timescales,and thus it is unclear whether there was a shift from a natural forcing to an anthropogenic forcing of dust storms.We reconstructed a high-resolution Holocene record of dust storms from the sediments of an undisturbed alpine lake on the Chinese Loess Plateau.We found that Asian dust storm activity generally increased during the Holocene,with the largest fluctuations occurring during the past 2000 years.The increase in dust storm activity was in contrast to the decrease in East Asian winter monsoon(EAWM)intensity during the Holocene,indicating that the EAWM played a limited role in modulating dust storms.By contrast,the increase in dust storms corresponded to a decrease in East Asian summer monsoon(EASM)precipitation.This demonstrates that EASM precipitation was the dominant control of dust storm activity on a millennial timescale,because decreased EASM precipitation expanded the desert area and thus increased the dust storm activity.The increasing intensity of human activity in the region since the Bronze Age resulted in an acceleration of dust storm activity against the background of decreased EASM precipitation.As human disturbance continued to intensify,beginning at least at~2 cal ka BP,increased dust storms were closely linked to increasing human populations in the dust source regions,and there is a strong temporal coherence between increased dust storms and higher EASM precipitation.This was completely different from when natural processes are dominant.During that period,fewer dust storms occurred during periods of a strengthened EASM.Therefore,there was a shift from a natural forcing to an anthropogenic forcing of dust storms on a multi-decadal to centennial timescale,and was a mode in which‘‘human activity overtook the EASM as the dominant control of the Earth surface system”.展开更多
Since Shi et al.proposed that the climate in the drylands of Northwest China experienced a significant transition from a“warming and drying”trend to a“warming and wetting”trend in the 1980s,researchers have conduc...Since Shi et al.proposed that the climate in the drylands of Northwest China experienced a significant transition from a“warming and drying”trend to a“warming and wetting”trend in the 1980s,researchers have conducted numerous studies on the variations in precipitation and humidity in the region and even in arid Central Asia.In particular,the process of the“warming and wetting”trend by using obtained measurement data received much attention.However,there remain uncertainties about whether the“warming and wetting”trend has paused and what its future variations may be.In this study,we examined the spatiotemporal variations in temperature,precipitation,the aridity index(AI),vegetation,and runoff during 1950-2019.The results showed that the climate in the drylands of Northwest China and the northern Tibetan Plateau is persistently warming and wetting since the 1980s,with an acceleration since the 1990s.The precipitation/humidity variations in North China,which are mainly influenced by summer monsoon,are generally opposite to those in the drylands of Northwest China.This reverse change is mainly controlled by an anomalous anticyclone over Mongolia,which leads to an anomalous easterly wind,reduced water vapor output,and increased precipitation in the drylands of Northwest China.While it also causes an anomalous descending motion,increased water vapor divergence,and decreased precipitation in North China.Precipitation is the primary controlling factor of humidity,which ultimately forms the spatiotemporal pattern of the“westerlies-dominated climatic regime”of antiphase precipitation/humidity variations between the drylands of Northwest China and monsoonal region of North China.The primary reasons behind the debate of the“warming and wetting”trend in Northwest China were due to the use of different time series lengths,regional ranges,and humidity indices in previous analyses.Since the EC-Earth3 has a good performance for simulating precipitation and humidity in Northwest and North China.By using its simulated results,we found a wetting trend in the drylands of Northwest China under low emission scenarios,but the climate will gradually transition to a“warming and drying”trend as emissions increase.This study suggests that moderate warming can be beneficial for improving the ecological environment in the drylands of Northwest China,while precipitation and humidity in monsoon-dominated North China will persistently increase under scenarios of increased emissions.展开更多
A key scientific issue in the study of the Anthropocene is the determination of the corresponding stratigraphic marker in geological archives.The arid and semi-arid regions of Asia are the second largest dust source o...A key scientific issue in the study of the Anthropocene is the determination of the corresponding stratigraphic marker in geological archives.The arid and semi-arid regions of Asia are the second largest dust source on Earth,and their release,transport and deposition of dust affect global climate change,as well as marine and terrestrial biogeochemical cycles.Over the past~2000 years,human activity has outpaced natural climatic variability as the dominant control of dust storms in northern China.Thus,exploring the potential of anthropogenic Asian dust as a marker of the Anthropocene and its impacts on lake ecosystems may contribute to an improved definition of the characteristics and timing of the Anthropocene.In this context,we measured spectrally-inferred chlorophyll a from the sediments of an undisturbed alpine lake in northern China,and compared the results with dust storm data from the same cores and with regional climatic records.Asian dust is a widely distributed,globally significant signal of human activity,and it is also well preserved in various geological archives;hence,we propose anthropogenic dust can be considered as a potential marker of the Anthropocene.Anthropogenic dust signals in stratigraphic records during the past~2000 years differ substantially from those during the early and middle Holocene,which demonstrates that,at least since~2000 years ago,human activity has exceeded the natural forcing of dust transport in northern China.We therefore propose that there are spatial and temporal differences in the onset of the Anthropocene,as defined by anthropogenic dust deposition,which is therefore time-transgressive.Our spectrally-inferred chlorophyll a record is consistent with dust storm activity over the past~2000 years(except since the 1950s),suggesting that anthropogenic dust storms were the dominant control on lake primary production.Prior to the 1950s the interactions of the East Asian summer monsoon(EASM),human activity,dust storms and lake ecosystems resulted in a shift from a pattern in which“human activity outpaced the EASM as the dominant control on the Earth surface system”to one in which,after the 1950s,“human activity became the dominant factor influencing the EASM and the Earth surface system”.In the future this pattern may trend towards one in which there is the“sustainable development of humans and the environment”.We suggest that,in order to better understand the interactions of human activity,climate and environment,future research on the Anthropocene should focus on its time-transgressive characteristics and regional differences,in addition to the“Great Acceleration”展开更多
The arid and semi-arid region of East Asia,principally including the deserts in eastern and western China,is the main dust source of the Northern Hemisphere.Dust storm activity in the region has attracted much researc...The arid and semi-arid region of East Asia,principally including the deserts in eastern and western China,is the main dust source of the Northern Hemisphere.Dust storm activity in the region has attracted much research attention because of its impacts on air quality.展开更多
Changes in the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM)are closely related to human wellbeing,and thus improving our knowledge of the evolution of the EASM is of major socioeconomic importance, as well as being of scientific ...Changes in the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM)are closely related to human wellbeing,and thus improving our knowledge of the evolution of the EASM is of major socioeconomic importance, as well as being of scientific interest.Previous studies have shown that during the Holocene (the present interglacial)a "North-South" dipolar mode of precipitation change occurred over eastern China (i.e.the so-called "northern drought-southern flood"scenario, or vice versa)on decadal [1,2],centennial [3]and millennial timescales ([4]and references therein).A recent high-resolution speleothem trace element-based precipitation record from Haozhu Cave in the Yangtze River Valley (YRV)[5],together with a pollenbased quantitative precipitation reconstruction from Lake Gonghai in North China [6],further suggests that this dipolar mode extended to the Last Deglaciation [5].This inference is based on the recorded anti-phased variation of precipitation between North China and the YRV during the Younger Dryas (YD),Bolling-Allerod (B-A),and part of Heinrich Event 1(H1)(Fig.1a,b).展开更多
Paleoclimate reconstructions show that the arid Central Asia(ACA)is characterized by a wetting trend from the midHolocene(MH)to the Preindustrial period(PI),which has been acknowledged to be a result of increased mean...Paleoclimate reconstructions show that the arid Central Asia(ACA)is characterized by a wetting trend from the midHolocene(MH)to the Preindustrial period(PI),which has been acknowledged to be a result of increased mean precipitation.However,a systemic understanding of its governing dynamics remains elusive.Based on model outputs from 13 climate models from the Paleoclimate Model Intercomparison Project phase 4(PMIP4)and proxy records from ACA,here we show that increase in mean precipitation in ACA can be attributed to changes in water vapor source and its transport intensity in winter(December,January,and February)and spring(March,April,and May).In particular,the increase in water vapor supply in winter is associated with the southerly wind anomaly over the northwestern Indian Ocean and Central Asia,caused by an overall weakening of the Asian winter monsoon.This is conducive to water vapor transport from the upwind regions(e.g.,Mediterranean)to ACA.Meanwhile,water vapor supply from the eastern Iceland is also enhanced due to a negative North Atlantic Oscillation-like(NAO-like)atmospheric circulation pattern caused by sea ice expansion in the North Atlantic.In spring,evaporation over land and inland lakes is enhanced by increased insolation in the Northern Hemisphere,which increases atmospheric humidity that fuels midlatitude westerlies to enhance ACA precipitation.In addition,weakened atmospheric subsidence over ACA in winter and spring also contributes to the increased precipitation.Overall,our results indicate that paleoclimate modeling is of great importance for disentangling governing dynamics accounting for reconstructed climate phenomena that might be a synergic consequence of several processes operating in different seasons.展开更多
基金supported by the NSFC-INSF Joint Research Project(No.42261144670)the National Key R&D Program of China(No.2018YFA0606401)China Postdoctoral Science Foundation(No.2021M703315)。
文摘0 INTRODUCTION.The intensification of global warming is generating increasing risks to human society and sustainable development,which are of growing concern to the international scientific community and policymakers(Sun,2023).The ecosystems of the Asian drylands are fragile and highly sensitive to global changes;moreover,while these drylands are the most important areas of oasis agriculture on Earth,their water resources are being adversely impacted by ongoing climate change(Zhang et al.,2023).Hence,an improved understanding of the patterns of climate change in this region is important and attracting increasing research attention.
基金supported by the Third Xinjiang Scientific Expedition and Research Program(2021xjkk0302)the National Natural Science Foundation of China project of the Basic Science Center for Tibetan Plateau Earth System(41988101)+1 种基金the Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research Program(2019QZKK0602)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(42072211)。
文摘Deserts are the most distinctive landscapes in the arid zones of midlatitude Asia,producing over 600 Tg of dust annually and serving as primary sources of mineral dust for the Northern Hemisphere.This dust is carried by the westerlies and the East Asian winter monsoon to downwind regions including East Asia,the northern Pacific Ocean,and even Greenland,influencing the global climate,global biogeochemical cycles,ocean productivity,Northern Hemisphere glaciations,and human health.
基金National Natural Science Foundation of China project Basic Science Center for Tibetan Plateau Earth System(41988101)。
文摘The Tibetan Plateau(TP)is an important link between the South Asian monsoon(SAM)region,the East Asian monsoon region,and the drylands of Central Asia.Climate changes within these regions are dominated by both the monsoon and the westerlies.This has prompted the scientific community to adopt a broad spatial perspective,proposing concepts such as the"Pan-Third Poleoor"Asian summer precipitationo,to better understand the regional climate dynamics,their driving mechanisms,and the resulting major ecological and environmental impacts.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(41790421,41722105,41988101)。
文摘Asian dust storms have long been a major environmental concern in China,affecting the lives of about one billion people.However,it is unclear whether the mechanisms responsible for Asian dust storms during the Holocene varied on different timescales,and thus it is unclear whether there was a shift from a natural forcing to an anthropogenic forcing of dust storms.We reconstructed a high-resolution Holocene record of dust storms from the sediments of an undisturbed alpine lake on the Chinese Loess Plateau.We found that Asian dust storm activity generally increased during the Holocene,with the largest fluctuations occurring during the past 2000 years.The increase in dust storm activity was in contrast to the decrease in East Asian winter monsoon(EAWM)intensity during the Holocene,indicating that the EAWM played a limited role in modulating dust storms.By contrast,the increase in dust storms corresponded to a decrease in East Asian summer monsoon(EASM)precipitation.This demonstrates that EASM precipitation was the dominant control of dust storm activity on a millennial timescale,because decreased EASM precipitation expanded the desert area and thus increased the dust storm activity.The increasing intensity of human activity in the region since the Bronze Age resulted in an acceleration of dust storm activity against the background of decreased EASM precipitation.As human disturbance continued to intensify,beginning at least at~2 cal ka BP,increased dust storms were closely linked to increasing human populations in the dust source regions,and there is a strong temporal coherence between increased dust storms and higher EASM precipitation.This was completely different from when natural processes are dominant.During that period,fewer dust storms occurred during periods of a strengthened EASM.Therefore,there was a shift from a natural forcing to an anthropogenic forcing of dust storms on a multi-decadal to centennial timescale,and was a mode in which‘‘human activity overtook the EASM as the dominant control of the Earth surface system”.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.41988101&42101149)the National Key Research and Development Program of China(Grant No.2018YFA0606404).
文摘Since Shi et al.proposed that the climate in the drylands of Northwest China experienced a significant transition from a“warming and drying”trend to a“warming and wetting”trend in the 1980s,researchers have conducted numerous studies on the variations in precipitation and humidity in the region and even in arid Central Asia.In particular,the process of the“warming and wetting”trend by using obtained measurement data received much attention.However,there remain uncertainties about whether the“warming and wetting”trend has paused and what its future variations may be.In this study,we examined the spatiotemporal variations in temperature,precipitation,the aridity index(AI),vegetation,and runoff during 1950-2019.The results showed that the climate in the drylands of Northwest China and the northern Tibetan Plateau is persistently warming and wetting since the 1980s,with an acceleration since the 1990s.The precipitation/humidity variations in North China,which are mainly influenced by summer monsoon,are generally opposite to those in the drylands of Northwest China.This reverse change is mainly controlled by an anomalous anticyclone over Mongolia,which leads to an anomalous easterly wind,reduced water vapor output,and increased precipitation in the drylands of Northwest China.While it also causes an anomalous descending motion,increased water vapor divergence,and decreased precipitation in North China.Precipitation is the primary controlling factor of humidity,which ultimately forms the spatiotemporal pattern of the“westerlies-dominated climatic regime”of antiphase precipitation/humidity variations between the drylands of Northwest China and monsoonal region of North China.The primary reasons behind the debate of the“warming and wetting”trend in Northwest China were due to the use of different time series lengths,regional ranges,and humidity indices in previous analyses.Since the EC-Earth3 has a good performance for simulating precipitation and humidity in Northwest and North China.By using its simulated results,we found a wetting trend in the drylands of Northwest China under low emission scenarios,but the climate will gradually transition to a“warming and drying”trend as emissions increase.This study suggests that moderate warming can be beneficial for improving the ecological environment in the drylands of Northwest China,while precipitation and humidity in monsoon-dominated North China will persistently increase under scenarios of increased emissions.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 41790421 & 42071115)
文摘A key scientific issue in the study of the Anthropocene is the determination of the corresponding stratigraphic marker in geological archives.The arid and semi-arid regions of Asia are the second largest dust source on Earth,and their release,transport and deposition of dust affect global climate change,as well as marine and terrestrial biogeochemical cycles.Over the past~2000 years,human activity has outpaced natural climatic variability as the dominant control of dust storms in northern China.Thus,exploring the potential of anthropogenic Asian dust as a marker of the Anthropocene and its impacts on lake ecosystems may contribute to an improved definition of the characteristics and timing of the Anthropocene.In this context,we measured spectrally-inferred chlorophyll a from the sediments of an undisturbed alpine lake in northern China,and compared the results with dust storm data from the same cores and with regional climatic records.Asian dust is a widely distributed,globally significant signal of human activity,and it is also well preserved in various geological archives;hence,we propose anthropogenic dust can be considered as a potential marker of the Anthropocene.Anthropogenic dust signals in stratigraphic records during the past~2000 years differ substantially from those during the early and middle Holocene,which demonstrates that,at least since~2000 years ago,human activity has exceeded the natural forcing of dust transport in northern China.We therefore propose that there are spatial and temporal differences in the onset of the Anthropocene,as defined by anthropogenic dust deposition,which is therefore time-transgressive.Our spectrally-inferred chlorophyll a record is consistent with dust storm activity over the past~2000 years(except since the 1950s),suggesting that anthropogenic dust storms were the dominant control on lake primary production.Prior to the 1950s the interactions of the East Asian summer monsoon(EASM),human activity,dust storms and lake ecosystems resulted in a shift from a pattern in which“human activity outpaced the EASM as the dominant control on the Earth surface system”to one in which,after the 1950s,“human activity became the dominant factor influencing the EASM and the Earth surface system”.In the future this pattern may trend towards one in which there is the“sustainable development of humans and the environment”.We suggest that,in order to better understand the interactions of human activity,climate and environment,future research on the Anthropocene should focus on its time-transgressive characteristics and regional differences,in addition to the“Great Acceleration”
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.41790421&41722105)。
文摘The arid and semi-arid region of East Asia,principally including the deserts in eastern and western China,is the main dust source of the Northern Hemisphere.Dust storm activity in the region has attracted much research attention because of its impacts on air quality.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(41790421 and 41722105)
文摘Changes in the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM)are closely related to human wellbeing,and thus improving our knowledge of the evolution of the EASM is of major socioeconomic importance, as well as being of scientific interest.Previous studies have shown that during the Holocene (the present interglacial)a "North-South" dipolar mode of precipitation change occurred over eastern China (i.e.the so-called "northern drought-southern flood"scenario, or vice versa)on decadal [1,2],centennial [3]and millennial timescales ([4]and references therein).A recent high-resolution speleothem trace element-based precipitation record from Haozhu Cave in the Yangtze River Valley (YRV)[5],together with a pollenbased quantitative precipitation reconstruction from Lake Gonghai in North China [6],further suggests that this dipolar mode extended to the Last Deglaciation [5].This inference is based on the recorded anti-phased variation of precipitation between North China and the YRV during the Younger Dryas (YD),Bolling-Allerod (B-A),and part of Heinrich Event 1(H1)(Fig.1a,b).
基金supported by the National Program on Key Basic Research Project of China(Grant No.2018YFA0606403)。
文摘Paleoclimate reconstructions show that the arid Central Asia(ACA)is characterized by a wetting trend from the midHolocene(MH)to the Preindustrial period(PI),which has been acknowledged to be a result of increased mean precipitation.However,a systemic understanding of its governing dynamics remains elusive.Based on model outputs from 13 climate models from the Paleoclimate Model Intercomparison Project phase 4(PMIP4)and proxy records from ACA,here we show that increase in mean precipitation in ACA can be attributed to changes in water vapor source and its transport intensity in winter(December,January,and February)and spring(March,April,and May).In particular,the increase in water vapor supply in winter is associated with the southerly wind anomaly over the northwestern Indian Ocean and Central Asia,caused by an overall weakening of the Asian winter monsoon.This is conducive to water vapor transport from the upwind regions(e.g.,Mediterranean)to ACA.Meanwhile,water vapor supply from the eastern Iceland is also enhanced due to a negative North Atlantic Oscillation-like(NAO-like)atmospheric circulation pattern caused by sea ice expansion in the North Atlantic.In spring,evaporation over land and inland lakes is enhanced by increased insolation in the Northern Hemisphere,which increases atmospheric humidity that fuels midlatitude westerlies to enhance ACA precipitation.In addition,weakened atmospheric subsidence over ACA in winter and spring also contributes to the increased precipitation.Overall,our results indicate that paleoclimate modeling is of great importance for disentangling governing dynamics accounting for reconstructed climate phenomena that might be a synergic consequence of several processes operating in different seasons.