Earth Science Frontiers ›› 2022, Vol. 29 ›› Issue (5): 310-321.DOI: 10.13745/j.esf.sf.2021.9.58

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Modeling study of the impact of tropical seaway changes on East Asian climate

TAN Ning1,2(), ZHANG Zhongshi3,4,5,*(), GUO Zhengtang1,6,7, WANG Huijun5,8,9   

  1. 1. Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China
    2. Institute of Earth Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China
    3. China University of Geosciences (Wuhan), Wuhan 430074, China
    4. Union Centre of Extreme Weather, Climate and Hydrogeological Hazards, China Meteorological Administration-China University of Geosciences (Wuhan), Wuhan 430074, China
    5. Nansen-Zhu International Research Center, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China
    6. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
    7. CAS Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Beijing 100044, China
    8. Collaborative Innovation Center on Forecast and Evaluation of Meteorological Disasters, Key Laboratory of Meteorological Disaster, Ministry of Education, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China
    9. Climate Change Research Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China
  • Received:2021-08-15 Revised:2021-09-27 Online:2022-09-25 Published:2022-08-24
  • Contact: ZHANG Zhongshi

Abstract:

The closure or constriction of tropical seaways during the early to mid-Pliocene (4.2-3 Ma) are highly relevant to paleoclimate due to their roles in modulating the global heat and moisture transport; however, their potential impacts on the East Asian (EA) climate and the underlying mechanism are unclear. Here, based on a set of sensitivity experiments using the NorESM-L AOGCM model, we systematically analyzed the influence of the Indonesian throughflow constriction and shallow central American seaway (CAS) closure on the EA climate. Our results reveal that the closure of tropical seaways leads to ocean surface warming in tropical regions and cooling in the mid-to-high-latitude North Pacific. The resulting sea surface temperature changes produce contrasting thermal effects in the northern (cooling) and southern China (warming), which leads to more precipitation along the mid-to-east elongated region of East Asia in summer, but causes warmer, drier condition in China in winter. This climate effect mainly results from the constriction of the Indonesian throughflow, with minimal impact from the shallow CAS closure. Combined with qualitative model-data comparison, our results further reveal that the closure/constriction of shallow tropical seaways can act to some extent on the EA climate transition during the Early to Mid-Pliocene but is not the major driver for this transition.

Key words: Pliocene, tropical seaways, East Asian climate, Pacific surface temperature

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