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Abstract: Holocene climate records obtained from the Asian summer monsoon domain suggest a regionally-delineated response to changing summer monsoon. The interaction between the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) and the Indian summer monsoon (ISM), two subsystems of the Asian summer monsoon, has been considered as a factor that explains those inconsistent Holocene climate records. However, this assumption is not valid when the relationship between the two subsystems is not clear. This paper presents a literature review regarding climate simulation of the Asian summer monsoon for testing the long-term relationship. The absolutely-dated Holocene speleothem records in the EASM domain and the ISM domain were compared to verify the simulation results. In addition, a unified monsoon index, which has a unified solid dynamic basis and is appropriate for different monsoon regions, was used in order to identify the modern relationship between the two subsystems. The speleothem records show more synchronous than asynchronous on the Holocene millennial-scale monsoon evolution, furthermore the two subsystems respond to the Younger Dryas (YD) and 8.2ka events in a similar way. However, these monsoon simulations roughly suggest that the two subsystems respond to Holocene climate change in different ways. While the simulations were mostly performed in a certain period of the Holocene, the speleothem records provided a relatively continuous Asian summer monsoon history. Therefore, time scales could affect the comparison between simulations and speleothem records. Then, we further discussed the interaction between the Asian monsoon subsystems according to simulations and modern monsoon indices. Overall, the relationship between the two subsystems is more complicated than synchronous or asynchronous, which is a dynamic relationship and related to the atmosphere–land–ocean–vegetation interaction. In addition, the relationship can vary over different time scales, and the links between time scales should be paid more attention to. Besides, the interaction between the westerly winds and the Asian summer monsoon in the mid-latitudes of East Asia will profoundly affect those areas in response to Holocene climate change. It is recommended that further research should be emphasized in dynamic mechanisms between the Asian summer monsoon subsystems and between the Asian monsoon and the westerly winds. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A loess–paleosol sequence and a lake sediment record from the central Hexi Corridor in the drylands of NW China show patterns of persistent millennial- to centennial-scale climate variability during the Holocene epoch, which can be well correlated with abrupt climatic events reported from the North Atlantic and the Asian monsoon-dominated regimes. Our results show that the drylands in NW China might have been regulated both by the westerlies and by the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) in a roughly synchronous manner. It seems that cold–dry intervals in the central Hexi Corridor may generally correspond to cooling phases in high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, and that cold/warm–wet intervals largely correlate with relatively warm phases in northern high latitudes. A candidate mechanism involving NAO/AO and ENSO dynamics is tentatively proposed to account for this synchroneity. Climatic patterns may be spatially different in the NW China drylands in response to the changing predominant control of either the westerlies or the EASM, depending on the contrast of their relative strengths. Glacier meltwater discharges associated with alpine warming may be partly responsible, at least for the two records discussed in this paper, for such spatial heterogeneity of climatic changes during the Holocene. More work is needed to evaluate the individual roles and combined impacts of the EASM, the westerlies and alpine glacier meltwater regulation on the NW China dryland dynamics. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]