It affects approximately one-third of the global population, influencing the climate of Japan, the Korean Peninsula, Taiwan, China, the Philippines and Mainland Southeast Asia but most significantly Vietnam.
This cold and dry winter monsoon is responsible for the aeolian dust deposition and pedogenesis that resulted in the creation of the Loess Plateau.
In most years, the monsoonal flow shifts in a very predictable pattern, with winds being southeasterly in late June, bringing significant rainfall to the region, resulting in the East Asian rainy season as the monsoon boundary advances northward during the spring and summer.
After the monsoon boundary passes north of a given location, it is not uncommon for daytime temperatures to exceed 32 °C (90 °F) with dewpoints of 24 °C (75 °F) or higher.
The location[2] and strength of the East Asian monsoon has varied during the Holocene which scientists track using pollen[3] and dust.