Description: During the Cretaceous, there were two factors that had important influences on the East Asian climate, the East Asian coastal mountains and Earth's orbital cycling. An important question is how the coastal mountains modulated the variability of East Asian climate over orbital timescales. Here, we perform simulations with the coastal mountains of 0, 2, and 4 km high and three orbital configurations to answer the question. Our results show that a mountain range at the East Asian coast can amplify the impacts of orbital forcing on East Asian climate. Specifically, precipitation over the Songliao Basin in Northeastern China has significant changes as the coastal mountain range is about 4 km high. Combining our simulation results with orbitally‐controlled sedimentary deposits from the Songliao Basin, we conclude that the altitude of the coastal mountain range was very likely higher than 2 km in the Late Cretaceous. Plain Language Summary Tectonic events and solar insolation are the two important factors impacting variations of the climate system in the geological past. Regional climate responses to variations in the radiation from the sun over 10 4 –10 5 years were often magnified or dampened by tectonic events. Cretaceous sedimentary records in East Asia suggest that East Asian climate was influenced by the solar insolation. Geological evidence showed that a mountain range existed along the East Asian coast then. Would this mountain range modulate impacts of solar insolation on East Asian climate? Our modeling results show that the influence of solar insolation on East Asian climate can be amplified by the coastal mountain range, depending on the mountain elevation. When the coastal mountain range is ∼2 km high, the amplification effects become significant. When its altitude reaches ∼4 km, the response of East Asian climate to solar insolation is considerably strengthened, and such a condition is supported by the rhythm induced by the climate variation due to solar insolation archived in the Cretaceous strata in the Songliao Basin. Thus, we speculate that the East Asian coastal mountains might have reached an altitude more than 2 km in the Late Cretaceous. Key Points East Asian climate was sensitive to orbital forcing in the Late Cretaceous East Asian coastal mountains amplified orbital forcing on East Asian climate variability East Asian coastal mountains were likely higher than 2 km in the Late Cretaceous

Description: The East Asian coastal mountains have been in place during the Late Cretaceous times, thus substantially influencing the Asian climate. So far, their altitude is uncertain. Here we investigate the influence of such mountains on Asian climate using an atmosphere-ocean general circulation model, Community Earth System Model version 1.2.2. Simulation results show that extensive deserts would develop over the eastern part of the East Asia if the altitude of the coastal mountains was greater than 2 km. This is due to the pumping effect of the coastal mountains which deprives the moisture from the East Asian interior during summer and autumn, leading to less precipitation and greater potential evapotranspiration. The existence of extensive desert areas would be more consistent with the presented Asian paleoenvironmental reconstructions. Therefore, our results independently indicate that the altitude of the coastal mountains had attained 2 km or more by the early Late Cretaceous.

Description: During recent years, terrestrial and extraterrestrial ocean research have increasingly joined forces to merge expertise and technical solutions in the exploration of marine systems on Earth and in space. This includes solutions for robotic applications, autonomy and sensor integration, as well as data analysis. These synergies in biomimetic design, platform artificial intelligence (AI) and life-tracing sensor packages will be applied to the monitoring and surveillance of environmentally delicate habitats on Earth such as cold-water coral reefs or fishing grounds, as well as decommissioning sites. Thus, marine scientific and industrial offshore infrastructures may provide innovative test-bed services for robotics and sensor development.