A test of climate, sun, and culture relationships from an 1810-year Chinese cave record.
A record from Wanxiang Cave, China, characterizes Asian Monsoon (AM) history over the past 1810 years. The summer monsoon correlates with solar variability, Northern Hemisphere and Chinese temperature, Alpine glacial retreat, and Chinese cultural changes. It was generally strong during Europe's Medieval Warm Period and weak during Europe's Little Ice Age, as well as during the final decades of the Tang, Yuan, and Ming Dynasties, all times that were characterized by popular unrest. It was strong during the first several decades of the Northern Song Dynasty, a period of increased rice cultivation and dramatic population increase. The sign of the correlation between the AM and temperature switches around 1960, suggesting that anthropogenic forcing superseded natural forcing as the major driver of AM changes in the late 20th century.
Zhang
Pingzhong
P
Key Laboratory of Western China's Environmental Systems (Ministry of Education), College of Earth and Environment Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China.
Cheng
Hai
H
Edwards
R Lawrence
RL
Chen
Fahu
F
Wang
Yongjin
Y
Yang
Xunlin
X
Liu
Jian
J
Tan
Ming
M
Wang
Xianfeng
X
Liu
Jinghua
J
An
Chunlei
C
Dai
Zhibo
Z
Zhou
Jing
J
Zhang
Dezhong
D
Jia
Jihong
J
Jin
Liya
L
Johnson
Kathleen R
KR