Abstract
Using the CCM3 global climate model of National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), this paper comparatively analyzes the characteristics of East Asian monsoon and surface water condition and the expansion of glacier on the Qinghai-Xizang (Tibetan) Plateau (QXP) between the present and the last glacial maximum (LGM). It is found that the winter monsoon is remarkably stronger during the LGM than at present in the north part of China and the western Pacific but varies little in the south part of China. The summer monsoon remarkably weakens in South China Sea and the south part of China during the LGM and has no remarkable changes in the north part of China between the present and the LGM. Due to the alternations of the monsoons during the LGM, the annual mean precipitation significantly decreases in the northeast of China and the most part of north China and the Loess Plateau and the eastern QXP, which makes the earth surface lose more water and becomes dry, especially in the eastern QXP and the western Loess Plateau. In some areas of the middle QXP the decrease of evaporation at the earth surface causes soil to become wetter during the LGM than at present, which favors the water level of local lakes to rise during the LGM. Additionally, compared to the present, the depth of snow cover increases remarkably on the most part of the QXP during the LGM winter. The analysis of equilibrium line altitude (ELA) of glaciers on the QXP, calculated on the basis of the simulated temperature and precipitation, shows that although a less decrease of air temperature was simulated during the LGM in this paper, the balance between precipitation and air temperature associated with the atmospheric physical processes in the model makes the ELA be 300–900 m lower during the LGM than at present, namely going down from the present ELA above 5400 m to 4600–5200 m during the LGM, indicating a unified ice sheet on the QXP during the LGM.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Wang, P. X., South China Sea since 150ka BP (in Chinese), Shanghai: Tongji University Press, 1995.
Ren, J. Z., Ding, Z. L., Liu, D. S. et al., Climatic changes on millennial timescales: Evidence from a high-resolution loess record, Science in China, Ser. D, 1996, 39(5): 449–459.
Zhang, L. S., Studies of Environmental Evolution (in Chinese), Beijing: Science Press, 1992, 89–105.
An, Z. S., Wu, X. H., Lu, Y., S. et al., Preliminary research on paleo-environmental evolution in China during recent 20 ka, in Geological Global Change for the Loess and the Quaternary (in Chinese) (ed. Liu, D. S.), Beijing: Science Press, 1990, 22–37.
Wang, S. W., Dong, G. R., The environmental features in western China and their evolutions, in The Evaluation of Environmental Evolutions in Western China (in Chinese) (ed. Qin, D. H.), Beijing: Science Press, 2002, 72–110.
Chen, X., Yu, G., Liu, J., Apreliminary simulation of climate at 21ka BP in China, Journal of Lake Sciences (in Chinese), 2000, 12(2): 154–164.
Yu, G., Chen, X., Liu, J. et al., Preliminary study on LGM climate simulation and the diagnosis for East Asia, Chinese Science Bulletin, 2001, 46(5): 364–368.
Acker, T. L., Buja, L. E., Rosinki, J. M. et al., User’s Guide to NCAR CCM3, Colorado: NCAR Technical Note, NCAR/TN-420+STR, 1996, 1–6.
CLIMAP Project Member, Seasonal Reconstructions of the Earth’s Surface at the Last Glacial Maximum, Geological Society of America Map Chart Series 36, 1981, 1–36.
Peltier, W. R., Ice paleotopography, Science, 1994, 265: 195–201.
Members of China Quaternary Pollen Data Base, Pollen-based biome reconstruction at middle Holocene (6ka BP) and last glacial maximum (18ka BP) in China, Acta Botanica Sinica (in Chinese), 2000, 42: 1201–1209.
Kalnay, E., Kanamitsu, M., Kistler, R. et al., The NCEP / NCAR 40-year reanalysis project, Bulletin American Meteorological Society, 1996, 77(3): 437–472.
Yu, G., Xue, B., Liu, J. et al., Lake Records from China and the Paleo-climatic Dynamics (in Chinese), Beijing: China Meteorology Press, 2001, 164–165.
Liu, D. S., Zhang, X. S., Xiong, S. F. et al., Qinghai-Xizang Plateau glacial environment and global cooling, Quaternary Sciences (in Chinese), 1999, 19(5): 323–331.
Shi, Y. F., Discussion on temperature lowering values and equilibrium line altitude in the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau during the last glacial maximum and their simulated results, Quaternary Sciences (in Chinese), 2002, 22(4): 312–322.
Shi, Y. F., Glaciers and Their Environments in China: The Present, Past and Future (in Chinese), Beijing: Science Press, 2000, 12–16.
Zheng, Y. Q., Yu, G., Wang, S. M. et al., Regional simulation of LGM monsoon climate in East Asia, Science in China (in Chinese), Ser. D, 2002, 32(10): 871–880.
Jiang, D. B., Wang, H. J., Lang, X. M., Palaeoclimate modeling for the LGM and the possible influence of the continental ice sheet over the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, Quaternary Sciences (in Chinese), 2002, 22(4): 323–331.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Zhao, P., Chen, L., Zhou, X. et al. Modeling the East Asian climate during the last glacial maximum. Sci. China Ser. D-Earth Sci. 46, 1060–1068 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02959401
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02959401