ENSO effect on hydroclimate changes in southeastern China over the past two millennia

• Published in: Quaternary science reviews 2022-06, Vol.285, p.107539, Article 107539
• Main Authors: Chen, Jianshun, Zhao, Kan, Wang, Yongjin, Cui, Yingfang, Liang, Yijia, Shao, Qingfeng, Cheng, Hai, Edwards, R. Lawrence, Duan, Fucai, Chen, Shitao, Pian, Chuang, Zhu, Junji
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: EASM; ENSO; Southeastern China; Stalagmite; The last two millennia
• ISSN: 0277-3791; 1873-457X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2022.107539

Meteorological observations indicate that both natural and anthropogenic forcing contribute to regional drought/flood in the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) domain. However, spatiotemporal rainfall pattern and its dynamics during natural climatic variability remains unclear. Here we reconstruct a ∼3 year-resolution EASM precipitation record over the past two millennia, based on 13 230Th dates and 600 δ18O in a stalagmite from Songya Cave, southeastern China. The δ18O sequence shows a long-term decreasing trend, indicating an increasing monsoon precipitation over the past two millennia. A series of centennial-scale fluctuations are superimposed on the long-term trend, with a wetter Little Ice Age than the Medieval Warm Period. The long-term trend and centennial-scale oscillations in EASM rainfall are broadly related to El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO) variations, with an increased (decreased) EASM rainfall corresponding to El Niño-like (La Niña-like) conditions and positive (negative) phase of PDO. Comparison of δ18O records from Songya and Wanxiang Cave shows an anti-phased spatial rainfall pattern between southeastern and northwestern China. This spatiotemporal rainfall pattern, consistent with the modern observations, is possibly regulated by the ENSO, through changes in the location and strength of the Western Pacific Subtropical High (WPSH). •A long-term increasing monsoon precipitation in southeastern China over the past two millennia.•An anti-phased “southeastern-northwestern” rainfall pattern in the monsoonal China.•The spatiotemporal pattern of EASM precipitation modulated by ENSO and PDO.