Can Zhang

Bio: Can Zhang is an academic researcher from Chinese Academy of Sciences. The author has contributed to research in topics: Holocene & Climate change. The author has an hindex of 7, co-authored 12 publications receiving 100 citations. Previous affiliations of Can Zhang include Chinese Ministry of Education & Lanzhou University.

Possible obliquity-forced warmth in southern Asia during the last glacial stage

Abstract: Orbital-scale global climatic changes during the late Quaternary are dominated by high-latitude influenced ~100,000-year global ice-age cycles and monsoon influenced ~23,000-year low-latitude hydroclimate variations. However, the shortage of highly-resolved land temperature records remains a limiting factor for achieving a comprehensive understanding of long-term low-latitude terrestrial climatic changes. Here, we report paired mean annual air temperature (MAAT) and monsoon intensity proxy records over the past 88,000 years from Lake Tengchongqinghai in southwestern China. While summer monsoon intensity follows the ~23,000-year precession beat found also in previous studies, we identify previously unrecognized warm periods at 88,000–71,000 and 45,000–22,000 years ago, with 2–3 °C amplitudes that are close to our recorded full glacial-interglacial range. Using advanced transient climate simulations and comparing with forcing factors, we find that these warm periods in our MAAT record probably depends on local annual mean insolation, which is controlled by Earth’s ~41,000-year obliquity cycles and is anti-phased to annual mean insolation at high latitudes. The coincidence of our identified warm periods and intervals of high-frequent dated archaeological evidence highlights the importance of temperature on anatomically modern humans in Asia during the last glacial stage.

Changes in the radiocarbon reservoir age in Lake Xingyun, Southwestern China during the Holocene.

Abstract: Chronology is a necessary component of paleoclimatology. Radiocarbon dating plays a central role in determining the ages of geological samples younger than ca. 50 ka BP. However, there are many limitations for its application, including radiocarbon reservoir effects, which may cause incorrect chronology in many lakes. Here we demonstrate temporal changes in the radiocarbon reservoir age of Lake Xingyun, Southwestern China, where radiocarbon ages based on bulk organic matter have been reported in previous studies. Our new radiocarbon ages, determined from terrestrial plant macrofossils suggest that the radiocarbon reservoir age changed from 960 to 2200 years during the last 8500 cal a BP years. These changes to the reservoir effect were associated with inputs from either pre-aged organic carbon or 14C-depleted hard water in Lake Xingyun caused by hydrological change in the lake system. The radiocarbon reservoir age may in return be a good indicator for the carbon source in lake ecosystems and depositional environment.

Different glacier status with atmospheric circulations in Tibetan Plateau and surroundings

Abstract: Glacial melting in the Tibetan Plateau affects the water resources of millions of people. This study finds that—partly owing to changes in atmospheric circulations and precipitation patterns—the most intensive glacier shrinkage is in the Himalayan region, whereas glacial retreat in the Pamir Plateau region is less apparent.

Modern glacier retreat on Kilimanjaro as evidence of climate change: observations and facts.

Abstract: In recent years, Kilimanjaro and its vanishing glaciers have become an ‘icon’ of global warming, attracting broad interest. In this paper, a synopsis of (a) field observations made by the authors and (b) climatic data as reported in the literature (proxy and long-term instrumental data) is presented to develop a new concept for investigating the retreat of Kilimanjaro's glaciers, based on the physical understanding of glacier–climate interactions. The concept considers the peculiarities of the mountain and implies that climatological processes other than air temperature control the ice recession in a direct manner. A drastic drop in atmospheric moisture at the end of the 19th century and the ensuing drier climatic conditions are likely forcing glacier retreat on Kilimanjaro. Future investigations using the concept as a governing hypothesis will require research at different climatological scales. Copyright © 2004 Royal Meteorological Society

Sea surface and high-latitude temperature sensitivity to radiative forcing of climate over several glacial cycles

Abstract: AbstractA compilation is presented of global sea surface temperature (SST) records that span around one glacial cycle or more, and it is compared with changes in the earth’s radiative balance over the last 520 000 years, as determined from greenhouse gas concentrations, albedo changes related to ice sheet area and atmospheric dust fluctuations, and insolation changes. A first scenario uses global mean values for the radiative changes, and a second scenario uses zonal means for 10° latitude bands for a more regionally specific perspective. On the orbital time scales studied here, a smooth increase of SST response from the equator to high latitudes is found when comparison is made to global mean radiative forcing, but a sharply “stepped” increase at 20°–30° latitude when comparing with the more regionally specific forcings. The mean global SST sensitivities to radiative change are within similar limits for both scenarios, around 0.8 ± 0.4°C (W m−2)−1. Combined with previous estimates of 1.3–1.5 times strong...

Precession-band variance missing from East Asian monsoon runoff

Abstract: Speleothem CaCO3 δ18O is a commonly employed paleomonsoon proxy. However, inferring local rainfall amount from speleothem δ18O can be complicated due to changing source water δ18O, temperature effects, and rainout over the moisture transport path. These complications are addressed using δ18O of planktonic foraminiferal CaCO3, offshore from the Yangtze River Valley (YRV). The advantage is that the effects of global seawater δ18O and local temperature changes can be quantitatively removed, yielding a record of local seawater δ18O, a proxy that responds primarily to dilution by local precipitation and runoff. Whereas YRV speleothem δ18O is dominated by precession-band (23 ky) cyclicity, local seawater δ18O is dominated by eccentricity (100 ky) and obliquity (41 ky) cycles, with almost no precession-scale variance. These results, consistent with records outside the YRV, suggest that East Asian monsoon rainfall is more sensitive to greenhouse gas and high-latitude ice sheet forcing than to direct insolation forcing.