CP Climate of the Past CP Clim. Past 1814-9332 Copernicus Publications Göttingen, Germany 10.5194/cp-9-2085-2013 Mid-Pliocene East Asian monsoon climate simulated in the PlioMIP Zhang R. 1 Yan Q. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5299-7824 2 Zhang Z. S. 3 2 Jiang D. 4 2 1 Otto-Bliesner B. L. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1911-1598 5 Haywood A. M. 6 Hill D. J. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5492-3925 6 7 Dolan A. M. 6 Stepanek C. 8 Lohmann G. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2089-733X 8 Contoux C. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8487-9275 9 10 Bragg F. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8179-4214 11 Chan W.-L. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5646-6104 12 Chandler M. A. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6548-227X 13 Jost A. 10 Kamae Y. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0461-5718 14 Abe-Ouchi A. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1745-5952 12 15 Ramstein G. 9 Rosenbloom N. A. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7389-3346 5 Sohl L. 13 Ueda H. 14 Climate Change Research Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China Nansen-Zhu International Research Centre, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China UniResearch, Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, Bergen 5007, Norway Key Laboratory of Regional Climate-Environment Research for Temperate East Asia, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado, USA School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds, LS29JT, UK British Geological Survey, Keyworth, Nottingham, NG12 5GG, UK Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, Germany LSCE/IPSL, CNRS-CEA-UVSQ, Saclay, France Sisyphe, CNRS/UPMC Univ Paris 06, Paris, France School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, University Road, Bristol, BS8 1SS, UK Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Japan Columbia University–NASA/GISS, New York, NY, USA Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan Research Institute for Global Change, JAMSTEC, Yokohama, Japan 03 09 2013 9 5 2085 2099 Copyright: © 2013 R. Zhang et al. 2013 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ This article is available from https://cp.copernicus.org/articles/9/2085/2013/cp-9-2085-2013.html The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://cp.copernicus.org/articles/9/2085/2013/cp-9-2085-2013.pdf

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.

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