title: Climate change on the Tibetan Plateau in response to shifting atmospheric circulation since the LGM.
abstract: The Tibetan Plateau (TP) is primarily influenced by the northern hemispheric middle latitude Westerlies and the Indian summer monsoon (ISM). The extent, long-distance effects and potential long-term changes of these two atmospheric circulations are not yet fully understood. Here, we analyse modern airborne pollen in a transition zone of seasonally alternating dominance of the Westerlies and the ISM to develop a pollen discrimination index (PDI) that allows us to distinguish between the intensities of the two circulation systems. This index is applied to interpret a continuous lacustrine sedimentary record from Lake Nam Co covering the past 24 cal kyr BP to investigate long-term variations in the atmospheric circulation systems. Climatic variations on the central TP widely correspond to those of the North Atlantic (NA) realm, but are controlled through different mechanisms resulting from the changing climatic conditions since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). During the LGM, until 16.5 cal kyr BP, the TP was dominated by the Westerlies. After 16.5 cal kyr BP, the climatic conditions were mainly controlled by the ISM. From 11.6 to 9 cal kyr BP, the TP was exposed to enhanced solar radiation at the low latitudes, resulting in greater water availability.
authors: Key Laboratory of Tibetan Environment Changes and Land Surface Processes (TEL), Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research (ITP), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.|CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Beijing, China.
authors: Liping
authors: L
authors: Zhu
authors: Key Laboratory of Tibetan Environment Changes and Land Surface Processes (TEL), Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research (ITP), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.|CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Beijing, China.
authors: Xinmiao
authors: X
authors: Lü
authors: Key Laboratory of Tibetan Environment Changes and Land Surface Processes (TEL), Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research (ITP), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.|CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Beijing, China.
authors: Junbo
authors: J
authors: Wang
authors: Key Laboratory of Tibetan Environment Changes and Land Surface Processes (TEL), Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research (ITP), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors: Ping
authors: P
authors: Peng
authors: Institute of Geography, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Germany.
authors: Thomas
authors: T
authors: Kasper
authors: Institute of Geography, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Germany.
authors: Gerhard
authors: G
authors: Daut
authors: Institute of Geography, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Germany.
authors: Torsten
authors: T
authors: Haberzettl
authors: Institute of Earth Sciences, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Germany.
authors: Peter
authors: P
authors: Frenzel
authors: Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resource Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors: Quan
authors: Q
authors: Li
authors: Key Laboratory of Tibetan Environment Changes and Land Surface Processes (TEL), Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research (ITP), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors: Ruimin
authors: R
authors: Yang
authors: Institute of Geosystems and Bioindication, Braunschweig University of Technology, Braunschweig, Germany.
authors: Antje
authors: A
authors: Schwalb
authors: Institute of Geography, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Germany.
authors: Roland
authors: R
authors: Mäusbacher