The Asian monsoon strengthens
The Tibetan Plateau reaches a height that reorganises the atmosphere over half a continent.
- When
- —
- Duration
- 2 million years
- Known to
- ± 1 million years
- Era
- Miocene, Cenozoic
Marine records from the Arabian Sea and loess sequences in China both register a marked strengthening of monsoon circulation in the late Miocene, around 8 million years ago. A high plateau heats strongly in summer and draws in moist ocean air, then blocks it in winter; the result is one of the most powerful seasonal circulations on the planet. The monsoon rains also accelerate Himalayan erosion and silicate weathering, feeding back into the long carbon drawdown that is cooling the world.