High-resolution studies of a planktonic foraminifer core record from the South China Sea (SCS) (31KL: 18°45.4'N, 115°52.4'E, water depth 3360 m) reveal changes driven by ice-volume forcings in the climate of the East Asian monsoon in the western Pacific marginal sea during the late Quaternary. The analyses of planktonic foraminifer faunal abundance data from the core indicate significant variations in the relative abundances of the dominant taxa over the past 100,000 years since the isotope stage 5. The transfer function estimates of faunal sea surface temperatures (SST) correlate well with a long-term (104–105 years) trend of global glaciation. About 65,000 years ago, there was an observable change in the mode of SST variability as many low-latitude records have shown. These findings suggest that the SCS surface circulation and the East Asian winter monsoon systems are mainly driven by variations in global glaciation levels. The association of surface ocean cooling in the SCS with global climatic events suggests that fluctuations in the strength of the East Asian winter monsoon may be linked to shifts in the latitudinal position of the westerly winds and the Siberian high-pressure system.

Data from Imbrie et al (1984). The radiocarbon ages were made on mixed species of planktonic foraminifers and have been adjusted by 400 years to accommodate the modem age of tropical surface water. The 14C ages have been converted to calendar ages by applying the Stuiver and Braziunas (1993) calibration curve for ages younger than 18,400 14C years and the U/Th calibration curve (Bard et al., 1993) for older ages.

Supplement to: Chen, Min-Te; Huang, Chi-Yue (1998): Ice-volume forcing of winter monsoon climate in the South China Sea. Paleoceanography, 13(6), 622-633