Radiative Effect of Mineral Dust on East Asian Summer Monsoon During the Last Glacial Maximum: Role of Snow‐Albedo Feedback

Mineral dust exerts great influence on modern climate. Eolian deposits reveal that atmospheric dust concentration is larger during the Last Glacial Maximum, especially over Asia. However, the larger forcing of dust on Asian climate is still not fully explored. In this study, climate model experiments are conducted to evaluate the direct radiative effect on East Asian monsoon. The results show that the radiative forcing of dust, amplified by snow albedo feedback over high‐latitude Eurasia, produces a wave‐like pattern in westerlies and weakens the monsoon southerly winds over northern China. Dust over expanded Last Glacial Maximum sources (northern Central Asia and northeastern Russia) is responsible for this perturbation of the westerlies; the absence of these dust sources at present explains why such impacts on circulations are not simulated for modern conditions. The dust‐induced anomalies in southerly wind speed and precipitation over northern China reach 29% and 41% of the glacial‐induced changes, respectively. Key Points Radiative effect of dust weakens the East Asian monsoon during LGM, which is not obvious at present Dust‐induced changes in monsoon winds and precipitation are comparable with glacial‐induced ones Snow‐albedo feedback initialed by high‐latitude dust exerts significant perturbations on the westerlies and monsoon