Seasonal aridity in the Indo-Pacific Warm Pool during the Late Glacial driven by El Niño-like conditions

Hällberg, Petter L.; Schenk, Frederik; Yamoah, Kweku A.; Kuang, Xueyuen; Smittenberg, Rienk H.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-1655-2022

Articles | Volume 18, issue 7

https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-1655-2022

© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-1655-2022

© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 18, issue 7

Research article

|

18 Jul 2022

Research article |

| 18 Jul 2022

Seasonal aridity in the Indo-Pacific Warm Pool during the Late Glacial driven by El Niño-like conditions

Petter L. Hällberg, Frederik Schenk, Kweku A. Yamoah, Xueyuen Kuang, and Rienk H. Smittenberg

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-1655-2022-supplement

Data sets

ERA5 monthly averaged data on single levels from 1959 to present H. Hersbach, B. Bell, P. Berrisford, G. Biavati, A. Horányi, J. Muñoz Sabater, J. Nicolas, C. Peubey, R. Radu, I. Rozum, D. Schepers, A. Simmons, C. Soci, D. Dee, and J.-N. Thépaut https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.f17050d7

Short summary

Using climate model simulations, we find that SE Asian tropical climate was strongly seasonal under Late Glacial conditions. During Northern Hemisphere winters, it was highly arid in this region that is today humid year-round. The seasonal aridity was driven by orbital forcing and stronger East Asian winter monsoon. A breakdown of deep convection caused a reorganized Walker Circulation and a mean state resembling El Niño conditions.