Stalagmite δ~(18)O Record from Yuhua Cave over the Past 500 Years and Its Regional Climate Significance

Based on 4 230Th dates and 370 stable oxygen isotope ratios(δ18O) obtained from a stalagmite collected from Yuhua Cave,Jiangle,Fujian,and combined with the age calibration of the top 100 years using the annually band counting stalagmite from Heshang Cave,an high-resolution oxygen isotope profile of the past 500 years was established.Comparison of the stalagmite δ18O record with instrumental precipitation data at Yong'an in the past 60 years indicates a high parallelism between the δ18O record and the total summer months(April to September) precipitation,suggesting that the stalagmite δ18O is a good proxy for the local summer monsoon precipitation.A comparison with other high-resolution stalagmites records shows that the trend of increase value of the δ18O during the past 100 years was similar in the East Asian Monsoon area.This supports the idea that the δ18O of the stalagmite from monsoon area indicates characteristics of the East Asian monsoon circulation.Comparison between the δ18O of stalagmite with Asian-Pacific Oscillation index shows a big similarity.On centennial to dacadal time scales,when IAPO is of the high value,the δ18O values will get much lower,and vice versa.Our result demonstrates a strong linkage between Asian monsoon precipitation and the Pacific Ocean via ocean/atmosphere interaction.