One long-standing issue in the paleoclimate records is whether East Asian Summer
Monsoon peaked in the early Holocene or mid-Holocene. Here, combining a set of transient
earth system model simulations with proxy records, we propose that, over northern China,
monsoon rainfall peaked in the early Holocene, while soil moisture and tree cover peaked in
the mid-Holocene. The delayed ecosystem (soil moisture and tree cover) response to rainfall
is caused by the vegetation response to winter warming and the subsequent feedback with …