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Pacific Sea Surface Temperature Forcing Dominates Orbital Forcing of the Early Holocene Monsoon

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Andrew Basil George Bush
Andrew Basil George Bush*
Affiliation:
Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, 126 Earth Sciences Building, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, T6G 2E3
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Abstract

Orbital forcing is known to play a primary role in regulating the strength of the south Asian monsoon circulation. In this study, a comparison is made between orbital forcing and Pacific sea surface temperature (SST) forcing of the monsoon through a sequence of atmospheric general circulation model experiments configured for 6,000 and 9,000 yr B.P. Early–mid Holocene orbital parameters are shown to increase continental seasonality as well as the meridional mean, the zonal mean, and the summer monsoon circulations. Winds in the southeast Asian monsoon are weakened by warm Pacific SST to such an extent that the increase in strength caused by early Holocene orbital parameters is offset. These results imply that SSTs are potentially as important as orbital parameters in governing the monsoon and that more data—particularly from the equatorial Pacific—are crucial to deciphering Holocene climate.

Keywords

Holocene climateorbital forcingSST forcingEl Ni ño
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 55 , Issue 1 , January 2001 , pp. 25 - 32
Copyright
University of Washington

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