Mountain glaciers regulate the response of Tibetan Plateau dust activity to global climate change during the last glacial

Abstract

The Tibetan Plateau (TP) is an important source in the global atmospheric dust cycle, while its response of dust activity to global and regional climate change remains unclear. This study presented high-resolution last glacial records for dust activity, near-surface wind intensity, annual temperature, and precipitation from a 4.8-m thick sedimentary sequence from the Yarlung Tsangpo River valley in the southern TP. The results indicated that dust activity in the southern TP is mainly regulated by the near-surface wind intensity modulated by temperature. On the orbital scale, dust activity roughly responds to changes in the Northern Hemisphere summer insolation (NHSI). On the millennium scale, dust activity shows prominent ∼5-kyr cycles, responding to changes in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Current (AMOC). Mountain glaciers in the southern TP could regulate the response amplitude of dust activity to the NHSI and AMOC through modulating regional temperature and associated wind intensity. This study highlights the impact of mountain glaciers on dust activity in the southern TP, which has important implications for understanding climate change on the TP and its response to global climate change.