Dynamics of the intertropical convergence zone over the western pacific during the little ice age

ABSTRACT Precipitation in low latitudes is primarily controlled by the position of the intertropical convergence zone, which migrates from south to north seasonally. The Little Ice Age

(defined as AD 1400–1850) was associated with low solar irradiance and high atmospheric aerosol concentrations as a result of several large volcanic eruptions. The mean position of the

intertropical convergence zone over the western Pacific has been proposed to have shifted southwards during this interval, which would lead to relatively dry Little Ice Age conditions in the

northern extent of the intertropical convergence zone and wet conditions around its southern limit. However, here we present a synthesis of palaeo-hydrology records from the

Asian–Australian monsoon area that documents a rainfall distribution that distinctly violates the expected pattern. Our synthesis instead documents a synchronous retreat of the East Asian

Summer Monsoon and the Australian Summer Monsoon into the tropics during the Little Ice Age, a pattern supported by the results of our climate model simulation of tropical precipitation over

the past millennium. We suggest that this pattern over the western Pacific is best explained by a contraction in the latitudinal range over which the intertropical convergence zone

seasonally migrates during the Little Ice Age. We therefore propose that rather than a strict north–south migration, the intertropical convergence zone in this region may instead expand and

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ACROSS THE MIOCENE–PLIOCENE BOUNDARY Article Open access 26 November 2021 GLACIER FLUCTUATIONS IN THE NORTHERN PATAGONIAN ANDES (44°S) IMPLY WIND-MODULATED INTERHEMISPHERIC IN-PHASE CLIMATE

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Series Analysis: Forecasting and Control_ Vol. 16 (Holden-Day, 1976). Google Scholar  Download references ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Financial support for this research was provided by the Ministry of

Science and Technology of China, the Natural Science Foundation of China (41403018) and the Chinese Academy of Science. AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * State Key Laboratory of

Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi’an 710061, China Hong Yan, Zhisheng An, Weijian Zhou & Yuhong Wang * Joint Center for

Global Change Studies (JCGS), Beijing 100875, China Hong Yan, Zhisheng An & Weijian Zhou * The Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven

27570, Germany Wei Wei * Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA Willie Soon * Department of Earth Sciences, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong,

China Zhonghui Liu * Institute of Public Affairs, Melbourne, Victoria 3000, Australia Robert M. Carter Authors * Hong Yan View author publications You can also search for this author

inPubMed Google Scholar * Wei Wei View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Willie Soon View author publications You can also search for this

author inPubMed Google Scholar * Zhisheng An View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Weijian Zhou View author publications You can also search

for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Zhonghui Liu View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Yuhong Wang View author publications You can

also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Robert M. Carter View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar CONTRIBUTIONS H.Y. designed the

study and wrote the manuscript. W.W. contributed to the section discussing climate model results. W.S. contributed significantly to improvements in the manuscript. Z.A., W.Z. and Z.L.

contributed to discussion of the results and manuscript refinement. Y.W. and R.M.C. contributed to improving the English. CORRESPONDING AUTHOR Correspondence to Hong Yan. ETHICS DECLARATIONS

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Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Yan, H., Wei, W., Soon, W. _et al._ Dynamics of the intertropical convergence zone over the western Pacific during the Little

Ice Age. _Nature Geosci_ 8, 315–320 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2375 Download citation * Received: 16 June 2014 * Accepted: 29 January 2015 * Published: 09 March 2015 * Issue Date:

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