Asian monsoon over mainland Southeast Asia in the past 25 000 years

The objective of this research is to interpret high-resolution palaeo-proxy data sets to understand the Asian summer monsoon variability in the past. This was done by synthesizing published palaeo-records from the Asian monsoon region, model simulation comparisons, and analysing new lake sedimentary records from northeast Thailand. Palaeo-records and climate modeling indicate a strengthened summer monsoon over Mainland Southeast Asia during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), compared to dry conditions in other parts of the Asian monsoon region. This can be explained by the LGM sea level low stand, which exposed Sundaland and created a large land-sea thermal contrast. Sea level rise ~19 600 years before present (BP), reorganized the atmospheric circulation in the Pacific Ocean and weakened the summer monsoon between 20 000 and 19 000 years BP. Both the Mainland Southeast Asia and the East Asian monsoon hydroclimatic records point to an earlier Holocene onset of strengthened summer monsoon, compared to the Indian Ocean monsoon. The asynchronous evolution of the summer monsoon and a time lag of 1500 years between the East Asian and the Indian Ocean monsoon can be explained by the palaeogeography of Mainland Southeast Asia, which acted as a land bridge for the movement of the Intertropical Convergence Zone. The palaeo-proxy records from Lake Kumphawapi compare well to the other data sets and suggest a strengthened summer monsoon between 10 000 and 7000 years BP and a weakening of the summer monsoon thereafter. The data from Lake Pa Kho provides a picture of summer monsoon variability over 2000 years. A strengthened summer monsoon prevailed between BC 170-AD 370, AD 800-960 and since AD 1450, and was weaker about AD 370-800 and AD 1300-1450. The movement of the mean position of the Intertropical Convergence Zone explains shifts in summer monsoon intensity, but weakening of the summer monsoon between 960 and 1450 AD could be affected by changes in the Walker circulation.At the time of the doctoral defense, the following paper was unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 4: Manuscript..