Ancient climate records reveal how East Asian monsoon shifted abruptly into cold and drought

How does climate change affect the East Asian monsoon? Researchers from Utrecht University's Faculty of Geosciences, together with colleagues at research institutes in China and Belgium, are investigating this question by looking back 250,000 years. They found that, over long timescales, the monsoon system tracks changes in incoming solar radiation caused by variations in Earth's orbit and tilt. But when radiation falls below a certain threshold, abrupt periods of extreme cold and drought occur, particularly when atmospheric CO₂ concentrations are low. The study was published in Communications Earth & Environment.