Glacial-interglacial shifts in dominant climate forcing over the last 33&thinsp;ka in the northern South China Sea

Zhao, Xueqin; Ye, Shengjie; Yao, Jiahui; Meadows, Michael E.; Weng, Chengyu; Wang, Yasong; Zhang, Mingxing; Xu, Yunping

doi:10.5194/cp-22-1085-2026

Articles | Volume 22, issue 5

https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-22-1085-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-22-1085-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 22, issue 5

Research article

|

29 May 2026

Research article |

| 29 May 2026

Glacial-interglacial shifts in dominant climate forcing over the last 33 ka in the northern South China Sea

Xueqin Zhao, Shengjie Ye, Jiahui Yao, Michael E. Meadows, Chengyu Weng, Yasong Wang, Mingxing Zhang, and Yunping Xu

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-22-1085-2026-supplement

Data sets

Pollen analysis of marine sediment core SCS_GC-1 Xueqin Zhao https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.987882

Organic-walled dinoflagellate cyst data of marine sediment core SCS_GC-1 Xueqin Zhao and Jiahui Yao https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.987861

Microcharcoal data of marine sediment core SCS_GC-1 Xueqin Zhao https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.987870

Carbon and nitrogen content of marine sediment core SCS GC-1 Xueqin Zhao et al. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.989845

Foraminifera stable isotopes of marine sediment core SCS GC-1 Xueqin Zhao et al. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.989928

X-ray fluorescence (XRF) scanning of marine sediment core SCS GC-1 Xueqin Zhao et al. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.989846

Short summary

What can the history of the South China Sea teach us about the great seasonal rains in East Asia? By studying a sediment core, we discovered how the region's climate transformed after the last ice age. The pivotal change was not started on land, but in the tropical ocean. Its early warming altered weather patterns, leading to forest expansion and fewer wildfires on land. This finding reveals that a warming tropical ocean can be a powerful trigger for major global climate shifts.