A 18,000 yr record of tropical land temperature, convective activity and rainfall seasonality from the maritime continent

The maritime continent exports an enormous amount of heat and moisture to the rest of the globe via deep atmospheric convection. How this export has changed through time during the last deglacial period and through the Holocene, is hardly known yet critical for the understanding of global climate dynamics. Here we present a continuous paleoclimate record from southern Thailand covering the last 18,000 years, including the first land-based temperature reconstruction of tropical SE Asia. We found evidence for a strongly seasonal climate for most of the deglacial period, causing biomass burning and suppression of rainforest growth, despite rising CO2 levels and increasing mean humidity. Temperatures were ca. 5°C cooler than today during the last cold stadial periods, and ca. 2°C warmer between 7000-2000 yr ago. We also find that tropical wet-season insolation (WSI) is a primary driver of deep atmospheric convection, exerting a strong influence on global climate dynamics.