Unstable Little Ice Age climate revealed by high-resolution proxy records from northwestern China

Chen, Jianhui; Liu, Jianbao; Zhang, Xiaojian; Chen, Shengqian; Huang, Wei; Chen, Jie; Zhang, Shengrui; Zhou, Aifeng; Chen, Fahu

doi:10.1007/s00382-019-04685-5

Cited by 38 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 80 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The observed profound influence of NAO upon the hydroclimatic fluctuation during the LIA at the multi-decadal scale concurs with the previous research findings on the palaeoclimate in northwestern China (Chen et al, 2019;Lee et al, 2015a). In reference to Li et al (2013), we used the overall mean of the 31-year running variance of Ortega et al's (2015) NAO index to delineate our study period into NAO strengthening and weakening periods for further analysis.…”

Section: Demographic Impact Of Ocean/atmosphere Interactionsupporting

confidence: 87%

“…The unusual cycles of NAO are suggested as the primary factor of hydro‐climatic instability in northwestern China during the Little Ice Age (LIA, ca . 1400–1850) (Chen et al ., 2019). If drought is related to the NAO as demonstrated by our GCA results (Table 1), while it reinforces the synchrony of Malthusian catastrophes as shown by our multivariate Ripley's K‐function results (Fig.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The observed profound influence of NAO upon the hydro‐climatic fluctuation during the LIA at the multi‐decadal scale concurs with the previous research findings on the palaeo‐climate in northwestern China (Chen et al ., 2019; Lee et al ., 2015a). In reference to Li et al .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Ocean/atmosphere interaction and Malthusian catastrophes on the northern fringe of the Asian summer monsoon region in China, 1368–1911

Lee

Yue

2020

J Quaternary Science

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

How and to what extent are human societies affected by climate change? There has been a growing body of research using big historical data and statistical analyses to provide scientific answers to this interdisciplinary research question. However, quantitative analysis measuring the historical demographic impact of ocean/atmosphere interaction is still scanty. Here we use 544 years (1368-1911) of historical records to trace the demographic impact brought about by ocean/atmosphere interaction in Shaanxi, located on the northern fringe of the Asian summer monsoon region in China. Our results show that: (1) North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) caused Malthusian catastrophes mainly through drought at the inter-annual scale; (2) drought reinforced the synchrony of various Malthusian catastrophes at the inter-annual to multi-decadal scale; and (3) the unusual cycles of NAO drove drought and various Malthusian catastrophes in the cold 1550-1730 period at the multi-decadal scale. This study represents a pioneering attempt to quantitatively assess the demographic impact caused by the ocean/atmosphere in historical China. Our findings may help to conceptualise the climate-human nexus in those ecologically marginal regions that are impacted by ocean/atmosphere interaction, and to explain the synchrony of social crisis in Eurasia in the 17th century.

show abstract

Section: Demographic Impact Of Ocean/atmosphere Interactionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Ocean/atmosphere interaction and Malthusian catastrophes on the northern fringe of the Asian summer monsoon region in China, 1368–1911

Lee

Yue

2020

J Quaternary Science

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Yang et al (2009) also noted that the LIA in arid Central Asia was cold and humid. Chen et al (2019) linked the higher humidity and moisture instability during the LIA to the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) fluctuations which affected northwestern China via westerlies. Considering the reconstruction of negative winter NAO (Trouet et al, 2009) for the last millennium, this pattern seems reasonable.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The link between climate change and biodiversity of lacustrine inhabitants and terrestrial plant communities of the Uvs Nuur Basin (Mongolia) during the last three millennia

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The paper is focused on changes in biodiversity, the environment, and human activity in the Uvs Nuur Basin during the last three millennia based on biological and geochemical proxies from the lake Bayan Nuur. Regions with high biodiversity and relatively low anthropogenic pressures are typically the most vulnerable to both climate change and human activities. One such area is the Uvs Nuur Basin located on the north of the Great Lake Depression of Mongolia. The main objective of this study is to assess changes in the past biodiversity of the lake’s microflora and microfauna, and surrounding vegetation biodiversity in the Uvs Nuur Basin, and to determine the main drivers of diversity change. Based on the analysis of pollen and chironomids we conclude that the most humid and afforested phase was between 1400 and 1800 CE. We assume that the Little Ice Age in the Uvs Nuur Basin was humid with mean annual precipitation ca. 305 mm/year and mean July temperature about 13°C. Conversely, the warmest and most arid period was between 650 and 1350 CE with mean annual precipitation ca. 280 mm/year and mean July temperature of about 16°C, attributed to the Medieval Warm Period. The biodiversity of terrestrial plants, chironomids, and Cladocera positive react to changes in annual precipitation and July temperature, whereas diatoms do not correlate directly to the climatic factors. The diversity and the evenness of plants are strongly correlated with the change in the leading biomes. The calculated species turnover suggests no significant changes in plant and Cladocera taxa composition, but significant changes in diatom and chironomid communities. This may be explained by the instability of lake ecology due to the fluctuation of the salinity and acidity of the water. An additional aim was to assess if dung fungi in lacustrine sediments reflect changes in human population density around the lake. We found that neither historical sources of human presence nor the influx of coprophilous fungi are correlated with the inferred climate changes. Coprophilous fungi can be used as individual or additional sources of assessment for the peopling and human-related herbivore density including overgrazing of the studied area.

show abstract

“…Thus we cannot know whether shifts similar to those reported in European summer temperatures during the 19th century in He et al (2019a) would have occurred in these two cities. For a discussion of the e¤ects of the Little Ice Age on the climate in China, see Chen, Liu, Zhang, Chen, Huang, Chen, Zhang, Zhou and Chen (2019).…”

Section: Beijing and Shanghaimentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparing long monthly Chinese and selected European temperature series using the Vector Seasonal Shifting Mean and Covariance Autoregressive model

Kang

Teräsvirta

et al. 2021

Energy Economics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The purpose of this paper is to study di¤erences in long monthly Asian and European temperature series. The longest available Asian series are those of Beijing and Shanghai, and they are compared with the ones for St Petersburg, Dublin and Uccle that have a rather different climate. The comparison is carried out in the Vector Shifting Mean and Covariance Autoregressive model that the authors have previously used to analysed 20 long European temperatute series. This model gives information about mean shifts in these …ve temperature series as well as (error) correlations between them. The results suggest, among other things, that warming has begun later in China than in Europe, but that the change in the summer months in both Beijing and Shanghai has been quite rapid.

show abstract

Unstable Little Ice Age climate revealed by high-resolution proxy records from northwestern China

Cited by 38 publications

References 80 publications

Ocean/atmosphere interaction and Malthusian catastrophes on the northern fringe of the Asian summer monsoon region in China, 1368–1911

Ocean/atmosphere interaction and Malthusian catastrophes on the northern fringe of the Asian summer monsoon region in China, 1368–1911

The link between climate change and biodiversity of lacustrine inhabitants and terrestrial plant communities of the Uvs Nuur Basin (Mongolia) during the last three millennia

Comparing long monthly Chinese and selected European temperature series using the Vector Seasonal Shifting Mean and Covariance Autoregressive model

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About