A high‐resolution monsoon record of millennial‐scale oscillations during Late MIS 3 from Wulu Cave, south‐west China

ABSTRACT A speleothem record from south‐western China characterizes in detail the millennial‐scale changes in Asian Monsoon (AM) intensity from 39.3 to 28.7 ka. The calcite δ 18 O profile, with an average resolution of ∼8 years, shows several strong monsoon events concurrent with Greenland Interstadials (GIS) 8–4. To gain a systematic perspective of AM millennial‐scale variability, the new and previously reported data from the same cave are combined, showing that AM variation exhibits a broad similarity with Greenland ice δ 18 O records and with Antarctica but in an opposite sense. For the interval that encompasses GIS 5 and GIS 4.1, however, our stalagmite δ 18 O record depicts a sustained strong monsoon with no distinctive oscillation between these interstadials. Another prominent characteristic in our record is a gradual transition into Chinese Interstadial (CIS) 8, which is well constrained by an annually laminated sequence. We find that an initial rise in monsoon intensity, lasting a few centuries, significantly precedes the abrupt onset of CIS 8 in the AM realm. This suggests that atmospheric moisture and heat transport are probably capable of inducing abrupt climate change when a rapid reorganization of ocean/atmosphere circulations passes a tipping point.