NOAA/WDS Paleoclimatology - Southern Chinese Loess Plateau 140,000 Year Loess Optical Data

The Earth's climate is influenced by the manner in which solar radiation is absorbed and reflected in the atmosphere. In the study, the approach evaluating the radiative forcing of aerosol was used to analyze the climatic effect of dust over the last 140,000 years in the southern Chinese loess plateau. (1) Radiative effect of dust aerosol was to reduce the solar radiation arriving at the surface and thus to lead earth cooling. However, the grain size-driven climatic feedback of dust aerosol was negative on short term scale, i.e., to weaken the amplitude of climate fluctuation. (2) Glacial-interglacial fluctuation was marked in most optical properties of dust over the last 140,000 years. High-frequent millennial scale fluctuations corresponding to Younger Dryas, Heinrich events and D-O cycles dominated most optical properties of dust aerosol. (3) The climatic feedback of dust aerosol may be a contributor for the climatic transition between glacial and interglacial periods.