Recent colder winters in midlatitude Eurasia have been linked to Arctic sea-ice decline. This study uses ice-rafted debris records from the eastern Arctic and geochemical data from the East China Sea to reconstruct Holocene changes in sea ice and the East Asian winter monsoon. Results show enhanced Arctic sea-ice decline and warmer East Asian winters in the mid-Holocene compared to the late Holocene. Mid-Holocene sea-ice loss transferred more summer heat to the winter atmosphere, suppressing meridional heat transport and weakening the winter monsoon. Findings suggest that colder East Asian winters may not alter the long-term winter warming trend associated with Arctic sea-ice decline.

Jiang Dong, Xuefa Shi, Haijin Dai, Zhengyao Lu, Xiting Liu, Anatolii S. Astakhov, Limin Hu, Gang Yang, Yuri Vasilenko, Alexander Bosin, Jingjing Gao, Yanguang Liu, Jianjun Zou, Zhengquan Yao, Anchun Li