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Asian Monsoon Dynamics
The southern Asian monsoon is one of the most important and influential phenomena of Earth’s climate system. People of the most heavily populated Asian countries have adapted many aspects of their society to the subtleties of monsoon rains, and are thus highly susceptible to small changes in the timing and intensity of monsoon precipitation. A dry monsoon can have disastrous effects and flooding related to extreme monsoon rains has proven to be one of the deadliest natural catastrophes (e.g., in Bangladesh, China, India, and Nepal). These vulnerabilities are likely to increase in the future with continued population growth, intensified land use, and sea level rise. Although there is a growing effort to improve seasonal to interannual monsoon prediction skill via new research, the largest threats to human health and livelihood could come from unanticipated decade to century-scale extremes in monsoon behavior. The goals of our work are to understand the full range of monsoon variability, particularly over time scales inaccessible using instrumental data, to understand the sensitivity of the monsoon system to altered forcing, and to understand monsoon-induced ecosystem and human change. Our work is based on marine sediment cores that we and others have collected in the Arabian Sea as well as on lake sediment cores we have collected in Nepal and Tibet. Further field plans include additional expeditions to Nepal and Tibet. Abrupt
Climate Change
D. Anderson, S. Caiming, A. Cohen, J. Cole, A. Gupta, K. Liu, J. Morrison, J. Olsen, M. Palacios, L. Tang
Morrill, C., J.T. Overpeck, J.E. Cole, K-b Liu, C. Shen, and L. Tang. 2005. Holocene variations in the Asian monsoon inferred from the geochemistry of lake sediments in central Tibet. Quaternary Research (in press). Overpeck, J., K.B. Liu, C. Morrill, J. Cole, C. Shen, D. Anderson, and L. Tang. 2005. Holocene environmental change in the Himalayan-Tibetan Plateau region: Lake sediments and the future. In: Global Change and Mountain Regions: An overview of current knowledge, U.M. Huber, H.K.M. Bugmann, and M.A. Reasoner, eds., Springer, Netherlands, pp. 83-92.
Shen, C., K-b. Liu, L. Tang, and J.T. Overpeck. 2005. Late Quaternary history of the alpine vegetation and climate on the Tibetan Plateau. Quaternary Science Reviews (submitted).
Liu, K-b., C. Shen, L. Tang, Z. Yao, and J.T. Overpeck. 2003. Modern pollen rain in the Tibetan Plateau. Journal of Biogeography (submitted).
Shen, C., K-b. Liu, L. Tang, and J.T. Overpeck. 2003. Numerical analysis of modern and fossil pollen data from the Tibetan Plateau. Annals of the Association of American Geographers (submitted).
Shen, C., K-b. Liu, L. Tang, and J.T. Overpeck. 2003. Quantitative relationships between modern pollen rain and climate in the Tibetan Plateau. Review of Paleobotany and Palynology (submitted).
Gupta, A.K., D.M. Anderson, and J.T. Overpeck. 2003. Abrupt changes in the Asian southwest monsoon during the Holocene and their links to the North Atlantic Ocean. Nature 421: 354-357. Morrill, C., J.T. Overpeck, and J.E. Cole. 2003. A synthesis of abrupt changes in the Asian summer monsoon since the last deglaciation. The Holocene 13: 465-476. Anderson, D.M., J.T. Overpeck, and A.K. Gupta. 2002. Increase in the Asian southwest monsoon during the past four centuries. Science 297: 596-599. Tang, L-y., C-m. Shen, K-b. Liu, and J.T. Overpeck. 2000. Changes in south Asian monsoon: new high-resolution paleoclimatic records from Tibet. Chinese Science Bulletin 45, 87-91. Tang, L-y., C-m. Shen, K-b. Liu, and J.T. Overpeck. 1999. New high-resolution pollen records from two lakes in Xizang (Tibet). Acta Botanica Sinica 41: 896-902. Overpeck, J., D. Anderson, S. Trumbore, and W. Prell. 1996. The southwest Indian monsoon over the last 18,000 years. Climate Dynamics 12: 213-225. |
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Studies Laboratory, Department of Geosciences, The University of Arizona Last updated
August 20, 2007
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