The present paper addresses driving mechanisms of global monsoon (GM) variability and
outstanding issues in GM science. This is the second synthesis of the PAGES GM Working …

Sahel rainfall is dynamically linked to the global Hadley cell and to the regional monsoon
circulation. It is therefore susceptible to forcings from remote oceans and regional land alike …

Climate tipping points occur when change in a part of the climate system becomes self-
perpetuating beyond a warming threshold, leading to substantial Earth system impacts …

The AR5 concluded that human influence on the climate system is clear, evident from
increasing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere, positive radiative forcing …

During the “Green Sahara” period (11,000 to 5000 years before the present), the Sahara
desert received high amounts of rainfall, supporting diverse vegetation, permanent lakes …

In the future, the Sahara and Sahelian regions could experience more rainfall than today as
a result of climate change. Wetter periods, termed African humid periods, occurred in the …

The mid-Holocene (6000 years ago) is a standard experiment for the evaluation of the
simulated response of global climate models using paleoclimate reconstructions. The latest …

The Holocene thermal maximum, a period of global warmth evident in early to mid-Holocene
proxy reconstructions, is controversial. Most model simulations of the Holocene have not …

Feedbacks between the global dust cycle and the climate system might have amplified past
climate changes. Yet, it remains unclear what role the dust–climate feedback will play in …

This paper is the first of a series of four GMD papers on the PMIP4-CMIP6 experiments. Part
2 (Otto-Bliesner et al., 2017) gives details about the two PMIP4-CMIP6 interglacial …