Sporopollen analysis of Core B10 in the southern Yellow Sea and the reflected characteristics of climate changes

Eight sporopollen zones have been divided based on the results of high-resolution sporopollen analysis of Core B10 in the southern Yellow Sea. Based on the results along with C-14 datings and the subbottom profiling data, climatic and environmental changes since the last stage of late Pleistocene are discussed. The main conclusions are drawn as follows: (1) the vegetation evolved in the process of coniferous forest-grassland containing broad-leaved treesconiferous and broad-leaved mixed forest --> coniferous and broad-leaved mixed forest-grassland prevailed by coniferous trees --> coniferous and broad-leaved mixed forest-grassland containing evergreen broad-leaved trees- coniferous and broad-leaved mixed forest-grassland prevailed by broad-leaved trees-deciduous broad-leaved forest-meadow containing evergreen broad-leaved trees- coniferous and broadleaved mixed forest-grassland prevailed by broad-leaved trees- coniferous and broad-leaved mixed forest containing evergreen broad-leaved trees; (2) eight stages of climate changes are identified as the cold and dry stage, the temperate and wet stage, the cold and dry stage, the warm and dry stage, the temperate and wet stage, the hot and dry stage, the temperate and dry stage, then the warm and dry stage in turn; (3) the sedimentary environment developed from land, to littoral zone, to land again, then to shore-neritic zone; and (4) the Yellow Sea Warm Current formed during early-Holocene rather than Atlantic stage.

Responses of summertime extreme wave heights to local climate variations in the East China Sea

We detected the responses of summertime extreme wave heights (H-top10, average of the highest 10% of significant wave heights in June, July and August) to local climate variations in the East China Sea by applying an empirical orthogonal function analysis to Htop10 derived from the WAVEWATCH- III wave model driven by 6 hourly sea surface wind fields from ERA-40 reanalysis over the period 1958-2002. Decreases in H-top10 in the northern East China Sea ( Yellow Sea) correspond to attenuation of the East Asian Summer Monsoon, while increases in the south are primarily due to enhancement of tropical cyclone activities in the western North Pacific.

Equatorial pacific SSTA-related decadal variations of potential predictability of ENSO and interannual climate

Based on analysis of NCEP reanalysis data and SST indices of the recent 50 years, decadal changes of the potential predictability of ENSO and interannual climate anomalies were investigated. Autocorrelation of Nino3 SST anomalies (SSTA) and correlation between atmospheric anomalies fields and Nino3 SSTA exhibit obvious variation in different decades, which indicates that Nino3 SSTA-related potential predictability of ENSO and interannual climate anomalies has significant decadal changes. Time around 1977 is not only a shift point of climate on the interdecadal time scale but also a catastrophe point of potential predictability of ENSO and interannual climate. As a whole, ENSO and the PNA pattern in boreal winter are more predictable in 1980s than in 1960s and 1970s, while the Nino3 SSTA-related potential predictability of the Indian monsoon and the East Asian Monsoon is lower in 1980s than in 1960s and 1970s.

COASTAL SEA-LEVEL AND THE LARGE-SCALE CLIMATE STATE - A DOWNSCALING EXERCISE FOR THE JAPANESE ISLANDS

A major problem which is envisaged in the course of man-made climate change is sea-level rise. The global aspect of the thermal expansion of the sea water likely is reasonably well simulated by present day climate models; the variation of sea level, due to variations of the regional atmospheric forcing and of the large-scale oceanic circulation, is not adequately simulated by a global climate model because of insufficient spatial resolution. A method to infer the coastal aspects of sea level change is to use a statistical ''downscaling'' strategy: a linear statistical model is built upon a multi-year data set of local sea level data and of large-scale oceanic and/or atmospheric data such as sea-surface temperature or sea-level air-pressure. We apply this idea to sea level along the Japanese coast. The sea level is related to regional and North Pacific sea-surface temperature and sea-level air pressure. Two relevant processes are identified. One process is the local wind set-up of water due to regional low-frequency wind anomalies; the other is a planetary scale atmosphere-ocean interaction which takes place in the eastern North Pacific.

Elemental carbon record of paleofire history on the Chinese Loess Plateau during the last 420 ka and its response to environmental and climate changes

An elemental carbon (EC) record, covering the last 420 ka, was reconstructed using chemical oxidation method on a loess and paleosol sequence from the Lingtai section on the Chinese Loess Plateau. The EC record reveals the paleofire history and its relationship with climate and vegetation changes on the Chinese Loess Plateau. Our results show that the EC abundance is generally higher in the paleosols than in the loess layers, showing a glacial/interglacial pattern, which is coincident with biomass changes. This variation pattern indicates that paleofires were intensified when biomass accumulated and climate changed abruptly especially from wet to dry conditions. The EC abundance increases sharply at similar to 130 kaB.P., indicating a dramatic change in the vegetation and climate variation patterns. The occurrence of a peak value with the highest average EC abundance in the Holocene may reflect the occurrence of a major climate event at similar to 6 kaB.P., and may also be partly due to more frequent anthropogenic fire usages. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.