Climates since late quaternary glacier advances: Glacier-climate modeling in the Kunlun Pass area, Burhan Budai Shan, northeastern Tibetan Plateau

The quantitative reconstructions of past climate changes on the Tibetan Plateau derived from glacial record based on glacier-climate models have been reported in existing researches. However, compared with low altitude areas and the vast majority parts of the Tibetan Plateau, modeled paleoclimate conditions from glacial record are still lack. This hampers the advancing understanding of regional climate-glacier interactions. The glacial history of Burhan Budai Shan provides an opportunity to reconstruct paleoclimate conditions since the penultimate glacial cycle. We applied a coupled mass balance and ice flow model to estimate paleoclimate during the early Holocene, MIS3 and penultimate glacial cycle. On the southern model domain, the model results suggested that the temperature drops ranged from -0.5 similar to 0.1 degrees C and 2.4 similar to 3.9 degrees C with precipitation being 140 similar to 200% and 30 similar to 100% of present during the MIS3 and penultimate glacial cycle, respectively. On the northern model domain, the early Holocene temperature was lower than present levels by 0.5 similar to 1.5 degrees C which presented separate evidence for the early Holocene precipitation being 80 similar to 150% of modern values. The model results in the model domain are generally consistent with other climate records on the Tibetan Plateau.