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2012 05 - R/V Sonne Cruise SO221 - INVERS

In­ter­gla­ci­al va­ria­ti­ons of the East Asi­an sum­mer mons­o­on - South China Sea

Hong Kong – Hong Kong (PRC)

17.05.2012 – 07.06.2012

Chief Seismic: Dr. Keil

MTU participants: Dr. Palamenghi, Iliev

 


Chan­ges in the East Asi­an sum­mer mons­o­on are dri­ven by na­tu­ral fac­tors, howe­ver, in more re­cent times to an in­cre­a­sing de­gree also by an­thro­po­ge­nic fac­tors. The re­la­ti­ve weight­ing of the­se con­trol­ling fac­tors nee­ds to be known, in or­der to pro­gnosti­ca­te the va­ria­bi­li­ty of pre­ci­pi­ta­ti­on in Cen­tral Asia, which is of enor­mous im­port­an­ce for the de­ve­lop­ment of the re­gio­nal na­tio­nal eco­no­mies. Du­ring this ex­pe­di­ti­on we sam­p­led high­ly re­sol­ved ma­ri­ne cli­ma­te ar­chi­ves using the Bre­men Sea Floor Drill Rig (MeBo) in the nort­hern South Chi­na Sea. No­vel pro­xy ap­proa­ches are ap­p­lied to the­se ar­chi­ves com­bi­ned with cli­ma­te mo­de­ling that al­low to re­con­struct the na­tu­ral va­ria­bi­li­ty of the East Asi­an sum­mer mons­o­on du­ring the Ho­lo­ce­ne and last 5 in­ter­gla­ci­als (MIS 13, 11, 9, 7, 5). We are in­ves­ti­ga­ting chan­ges in the ve­ge­ta­ti­on and the hy­dro­lo­gi­cal cy­cle in the catch­ment area of the Pearl Ri­ver du­ring the­se cli­ma­te pe­ri­ods. A mo­del-ba­sed com­pa­ri­son of the na­tu­ral de­ve­lop­ment du­ring the pre­vious in­ter­gla­ci­als with the al­re­a­dy an­thro­po­ge­nic af­fec­ted Ho­lo­ce­ne de­ve­lop­ment aims at as­ses­sing the re­la­ti­ve weight­ing of na­tu­ral and an­thro­po­ge­nic for­cings. Thus, IN­VERS will broa­den the know­ledge base on cli­ma­te chan­ge in Cen­tral Asia and will im­pro­ve sce­na­ri­os out­li­ning the fu­ture dy­na­mic of the mons­o­on sys­tem.

This ex­pe­di­ti­on is di­rect­ly con­nec­ted with the BMBF re­se­arch pro­jects "Natural versus anthropogenic controls of past monsoon variability in Central Asia recorded in marine archives (CARIMA)” and "Central Asian Holocene Climate (CAHOL)" as parts of "Central Asia: Monsoon Dynamics and Geo-Ecosystems (CAME)".


Publications

Palamenghi, Luisa, Keil H., Spiess V. (2015) Sequence stratigraphic framework of a mixed turbidite-contourite depositional system along the NW slope of the South China Sea. Geo-Marine Letters 35 (1), 69-75, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00367-014-0385-z.


Bathymetry