Asset Details
Do you wish to reserve the book?
The 3.6-Ma aridity and westerlies history over midlatitude Asia linked with global climatic cooling
Hey, we have placed the reservation for you!
By the way, why not check out events that you can attend while you pick your title.
Oops! Something went wrong.
Looks like we were not able to place the reservation. Kindly try again later.
Are you sure you want to remove the book from the shelf?
The 3.6-Ma aridity and westerlies history over midlatitude Asia linked with global climatic cooling
Do you wish to request the book?
The 3.6-Ma aridity and westerlies history over midlatitude Asia linked with global climatic cooling
Please be aware that the book you have requested cannot be checked out. If you would like to checkout this book, you can reserve another copy
We have requested the book for you!
Your request is successful and it will be processed during the Library working hours. Please check the status of your request in My Requests.
Oops! Something went wrong.
Looks like we were not able to place your request. Kindly try again later.
Journal Article
The 3.6-Ma aridity and westerlies history over midlatitude Asia linked with global climatic cooling
2020
Overview
Midlatitude Asia (MLA), strongly influenced by westerlies-controlled climate, is a key source of global atmospheric dust, and plays a significant role in Earth’s climate system . However, it remains unclear how the westerlies, MLA aridity, and dust flux from this region evolved over time. Here, we report a unique high-resolution eolian dust record covering the past 3.6 Ma, retrieved from the thickest loess borehole sequence (671 m) recovered to date, at the southern margin of the Taklimakan desert in the MLA interior. The results show that eolian dust accumulation, which is closely related to aridity and the westerlies, indicates existence of a dry climate, desert area, and stable land surface, promoting continuous loess deposition since at least ∼3.6 Ma. This region experienced long-term stepwise drying at ∼2.7, 1.1, and 0.5 Ma, coeval with a dominant periodicity shift from 41-ka cyclicity to 100-ka cyclicity between 1.1 Ma and 0.5 Ma. These features match well with global ice volume variability both in the time and frequency domains (including the Mid-Pleistocene Transition), highlighting global cooling-forced aridity and westerlies climate changes on these timescales. Numerical modeling demonstrates that global cooling can dry MLA and intensify the westerlies, which facilitates dust emission and transport, providing an interpretive framework. Increased dust may have promoted positive feedbacks (e.g., decreasing atmospheric CO₂ concentrations and modulating radiation budgets), contributing to further cooling. Unraveling the long-term evolution of MLA aridity and westerlies climate is an indispensable component of the unfolding mystery of global climate change.
