Description: The Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM) is a major global climatic phenomenon. Long-term precipitation proxy records of the ISM, however, are often fragmented and discontinuous, impeding an estimation of the magnitude of precipitation variability from the Last Glacial to the present. To improve our understanding of past ISM variability, we provide a continuous reconstructed record of precipitation and continental vegetation changes from the lower Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna catchment and the Indo-Burman ranges over the last 18,000 years (18 ka). The records derive from a marine sediment core from the northern Bay of Bengal (NBoB), and are complemented by numerical model results of spatial moisture transport and precipitation distribution over the Bengal region. The isotopic composition of terrestrial plant waxes (dD and d13C of n-alkanes) are compared to results from an isotope-enabled general atmospheric circulation model (IsoCAM) for selected time slices (pre-industrial, mid-Holocene and Heinrich Stadial 1). Comparison of proxy and model results indicate that past changes in the dD of precipitation and plant waxes were mainly driven by the amount effect, and strongly influenced by ISM rainfall. Maximum precipitation is detected for the Early Holocene Climatic Optimum (EHCO; 10.5 - 6 ka BP), whereas minimum precipitation occurred during the Heinrich Stadial 1 (HS1; 16.9 - 15.4 ka BP). The IsoCAM model results support the hypothesis of a constant moisture source (i.e. the NBoB) throughout the study period. Relative to the pre-industrial period the model reconstructions show 20% more rain during the mid-Holocene (6 ka BP) and 20% less rain during the Heinrich Stadial 1 (HS1), respectively. A shift from C4-plant dominated ecosystems during the glacial to subsequent C3/C4-mixed ones during the interglacial took place. Vegetation changes were predominantly driven by precipitation variability, as evidenced by the significant correlation between the dD and d13C alkane records. When compared to other records across the ISM domain, precipitation and vegetation changes inferred from our records and the numerical model results provide evidence for a coherent regional variability of the ISM from the Last Glacial to the present.

Description: To reconstruct variability of the West African monsoon and associated vegetation changes on precessional and millennial time scales, we analyzed a marine sediment core from the continental slope off Senegal spanning the past 44,000 years (44 ka). We used the stable hydrogen isotopic composition (dD) of individual terrestrial plant wax n-alkanes as a proxy for past rainfall variability. The abundance and stable carbon isotopic composition (d13C) of the same compounds were analyzed to assess changes in vegetation composition (C3/C4 plants) and density. The dD record reveals two wet periods that coincide with local maximum summer insolation from 38 to 28 ka and 15 to 4 ka and that are separated by a less wet period during minimum summer insolation. Our data indicate that rainfall intensity during the rainy season throughout both wet humid periods was similar, whereas the length of the rainy season was presumably shorter during the last glacial than during the Holocene. Additional dry intervals are identified that coincide with North Atlantic Heinrich stadials and the Younger Dryas interval, indicating that the West African monsoon over tropical northwest Africa is linked to both insolation forcing and highlatitude climate variability. The d13C record indicates that vegetation of the western Sahel was consistently dominated by C4 plants during the past 44 ka, whereas C3-type vegetation increased during the Holocene. Moreover, we observe a gradual ending of the Holocene humid period together with unchanging ratio of C3 to C4 plants, indicating that an abrupt aridification due to vegetation feedbacks is not a general characteristic of this time interval.

Description: In this study we reconstruct sea surface temperatures (SSTs) using two lipid-based biomarker proxies (alkenone unsaturation index View the MathML sourceU37K′ and TEX86 index based on glycerol dibiphytanyl glycerol tetraethers) in 36 surface sediment samples from the Indonesian continental margin off west Sumatra and south of Java and the Lesser Sunda Islands. Comparison of measured temperatures (World Ocean Atlas 09) to reconstructed temperatures suggests that SST estimates based on View the MathML sourceU37K′ reflect the SE monsoon SST in the upwelling area south of Java and the Lesser Sunda Islands. Estimates based on TEX86 using the calibration for temperatures 〉20 °C (View the MathML sourceTEX86H) are up to 2 °C lower than View the MathML sourceU37K′-based SSTs. This offset is possibly related to either one or a combination of two factors: (i) the depth habitats of the source organisms and (ii) different seasonal production and/or seasonality of export associated with phytoplankton blooming triggered by primary productivity. In the non-upwelling area off west Sumatra, the alkenone-based SSTs are cooler than measured temperatures during the entire year, likely reflecting the limitations of the View the MathML sourceU37K′ proxy beyond 28 °C, while reconstructed temperatures based on View the MathML sourceTEX86H are consistent with mean annual SST.