Climate of the Past (Sep 2013)

Mid-Pliocene East Asian monsoon climate simulated in the PlioMIP

  • R. Zhang,
  • Q. Yan,
  • Z. S. Zhang,
  • D. Jiang,
  • B. L. Otto-Bliesner,
  • A. M. Haywood,
  • D. J. Hill,
  • A. M. Dolan,
  • C. Stepanek,
  • G. Lohmann,
  • C. Contoux,
  • F. Bragg,
  • W.-L. Chan,
  • M. A. Chandler,
  • A. Jost,
  • Y. Kamae,
  • A. Abe-Ouchi,
  • G. Ramstein,
  • N. A. Rosenbloom,
  • L. Sohl,
  • H. Ueda

DOI
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-2085-2013
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9, no. 5
pp. 2085 – 2099

Abstract

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Based on simulations with 15 climate models in the Pliocene Model Intercomparison Project (PlioMIP), the regional climate of East Asia (focusing on China) during the mid-Pliocene is investigated in this study. Compared to the pre-industrial, the multi-model ensemble mean (MMM) of all models shows the East Asian summer winds (EASWs) largely strengthen in monsoon China, and the East Asian winter winds (EAWWs) strengthen in south monsoon China but slightly weaken in north monsoon China in the mid-Pliocene. The MMM of all models also illustrates a warmer and wetter mid-Pliocene climate in China. The simulated weakened mid-Pliocene EAWWs in north monsoon China and intensified EASWs in monsoon China agree well with geological reconstructions. However, there is a large model–model discrepancy in simulating mid-Pliocene EAWW, which should be further addressed in the future work of PlioMIP.