CLIVAR/PAGES East Asian Monsoon Project

CLIVAR/PAGES East Asian Monsoon Project
Name	CLIVAR/PAGES East Asian Monsoon Project
Abbreviation	EAMP
Formation	1990s
Type	Scientific research collaboration
Region served	East Asia, Western Pacific, Indian Ocean
Parent organizations	World Climate Research Programme, Past Global Changes (PAGES)

CLIVAR/PAGES East Asian Monsoon Project The CLIVAR/PAGES East Asian Monsoon Project was an international research initiative that brought together observational, modelling, and paleoclimate communities to study the dynamics, variability, and history of the East Asian monsoon system. The project linked contemporary climate programmes with paleoclimatic reconstructions to integrate insights from Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change-relevant assessments, regional Monsoon research, and global climate modelling efforts. It fostered ties among regional research centres, field campaigns, and data archives to inform understanding of monsoon interactions with the El Niño–Southern Oscillation, Indian Ocean Dipole, and mid-latitude teleconnections.

Overview

The project emerged from coordination between Climate Variability and Predictability and Past Global Changes initiatives under the aegis of the World Climate Research Programme, designed to bridge gaps between instrumental observations maintained by agencies like Japan Meteorological Agency, China Meteorological Administration, and India Meteorological Department and long-term proxies curated by institutions such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, British Antarctic Survey, and Max Planck Institute for Meteorology. It emphasized multidisciplinary synthesis across atmospheric science, oceanography, and paleoclimatology, linking work by researchers affiliated with Columbia University, Peking University, National Taiwan University, Tsinghua University, and Australian National University.

Objectives and Scope

Primary objectives included quantifying monsoon variability on seasonal to millennial timescales, attributing drivers of monsoon change, and improving monsoon representation in coupled models developed at centres like Met Office Hadley Centre, GFDL, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais, and NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. The scope covered continental East Asia, the western Pacific, and adjacent sectors of the Indian Ocean and North Pacific Ocean, addressing interactions among the Meiyu–Baiu–Changma rainband, Tibetan Plateau forcing, and extratropical circulation patterns influenced by features such as the Siberian High and Pacific Decadal Oscillation. Integration with proxy archives targeted speleothem records from Himalaya, lacustrine sediments from the Mongolian Plateau, and coral records from the South China Sea.

Methods and Data Sources

The project combined instrumental datasets—rainfall, surface temperature, sea surface temperature, and atmospheric reanalyses from ERA-Interim and NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis—with proxy records including speleothems, tree rings from the Qinling Mountains, ice cores from Tibetan Plateau, and marine sediment cores sampled near Kuroshio Current tracks. Paleoclimate dating used uranium-thorium methods refined at laboratories like ETH Zurich and Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory, while geochemical proxies (δ18O, Mg/Ca) were analysed at institutions including Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Modelling employed coupled general circulation models from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project framework and regional climate models validated against datasets from China National Climate Center and Korean Meteorological Administration.

Major Findings and Contributions

The initiative clarified the role of orbital forcing, greenhouse gases, and regional boundary conditions in shaping Holocene monsoon variability documented in speleothem δ18O records, supporting synthesis efforts that linked paleomonsoon signals to global climate events such as the Younger Dryas and the Medieval Warm Period. It demonstrated robust teleconnections between the East Asian monsoon and modes like ENSO and the Indian Ocean Basin Mode, improving seasonal prediction skill at operational centres such as China Meteorological Administration and informing model development at ECMWF and NOAA. The project produced influential datasets and community standards for proxy calibration and metadata conventions adopted by archives like the World Data Center for Paleoclimatology.

Collaborations and Participating Institutions

EAMP convened scientists from national academies and universities including Chinese Academy of Sciences, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Korean Institute of Ocean Science and Technology, Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Academia Sinica, and Paleoclimatology Research Centers worldwide. International programmes and committees such as International Geosphere–Biosphere Programme, Global Energy and Water Exchanges project, and regional networks like the Asian Monsoon Year collaboration interfaced with EAMP to coordinate field campaigns, data sharing, and capacity building. Funding and logistical support came from sources including national research councils like the National Natural Science Foundation of China and agencies such as the U.S. National Science Foundation.

Impact on Climate Research and Policy

Findings influenced assessments by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change by providing paleoclimate context for future monsoon projections and uncertainties in regional climate change scenarios used by policymakers in China, Japan, and India. Improved monsoon predictability informed agricultural planning dialogues involving ministries such as Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (China) and water resource management institutions in the Yellow River and Yangtze River basins. The project’s data protocols and syntheses were incorporated into multi-model intercomparison studies and regional climate services operated by Asian Development Bank-supported programmes.

Legacy and Ongoing Activities

Though the project phase concluded, its legacy persists through sustained collaborations, open-access proxy compilations, and methodology standards that continue in successor initiatives and databases maintained by PAGES, CLIVAR, and national data centres. Ongoing activities include high-resolution paleomonsoon drilling, concerted modelling experiments under CMIP6-related efforts, and capacity-building workshops hosted by universities such as Nanjing University and Kyoto University, ensuring the project’s contributions endure in contemporary monsoon science and regional climate adaptation planning.

Category:Climate research collaborations