ABSTRACT

This synthesis takes a full of advantages of the recently-available pollen data and the newly-gained understanding of the large-scale contexts of the Holocene climate changes in attempt to elevate our understanding of the spatiotemporal patterns of the Holocene moisture variations in the Tibetan Plateau. For this synthesis, all of published pollen data were screened and 30 pollen sequences passed our data quality screening. This synthesisdisplayed spatial patterns of regionally-averaged standardized moisture indices (RA-SMI) and the comparisons of the patterns with the relevant data from the neighboring areas show that Holocene RA-SMI variations in the areas (i.e.,western TP and southern TP) that have been dictated by the Sea Surface Temperature (SST) in the Arabian Sea were characterized by a wet early Holocene and a dry late Holocene. And, the Holocene SST in the Arabian Seawas controlled by the position of Intertropical Convergence Zone. The Holocene RA-SMI variations in the areas (i.e., southeastern TP and northeastern TP) that have been dictated by the SST in the Western Pacific warm pool were featured as a “bow-shaped” pattern. That is, the early Holocene and the late Holocene were dry with the mid-Holocene being the wettest. The “bow-shaped” pattern is in parallel with the SST in the Western Pacific warmpool. It implies that water-vapor availability associatedwith the SST has been of a great significance in providing precipitable water vapors to the Tibetan Plateau and the neighboring monsoon-dominated areas.