Last Glacial Maximum climate over Korean Peninsula in PMIP3 Simulations

Abstract

The Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) occurred at 21,000 years before present is a marked climate event with thick ice sheets over North America and Europe and associated sea level drop by about 120 m. We used the most updated coupled climate model results to analyze the climate change over Korea for the LGM. Eight coupled models (CCSM, CNRM, COSMOS, FGOALS, IPSL, MIROC, MPI, and MRI) were used to analyze the LGM climate. With LGM boundary conditions, surface air temperature decreases almost everywhere in all seasons with the biggest cooling in winter and least cooling in summer. Overall, in the LGM, the multi-model annual-mean cooling over Korea is 5.85°C, which is consistent with proxy evidence using pollen reconstructions. Associated with the surface cooling, precipitation decreases in general, with the largest reduction in winter by 56%, but in summer precipitation increases by 12% in the LGM over Korea. Overall, precipitation decreases by about 14% in the LGM over Korea. The surface cooling tends to increase surface pressure almost everywhere over Asia. The sea level pressure increase is especially larger in high latitudes and this leads to the easterly wind anomaly in northern part of Korea. On the other hand, in South Korea, the increase in surface pressure leads to the westerly wind anomaly. The increase in surface pressure associated with surface cooling leads to the anticlockwise wind anomalies in the LGM over Korea.