Interannual oxygen isotope variability in Indian summer monsoon precipitation reflects changes in moisture sources

Abstract

The primary influences on the spatio-temporal variability of oxygen isotope compositions in precipitation over the Indian summer monsoon domain are inadequately constrained by the limited observational record. Consequently, the climatic significance of isotopic signatures of precipitation preserved in proxy archives from the region remains unclear. Here we present simulations with an isotope-enabled climate model (IsoGSM2) with the moisture-tagging capability to investigate the role of relative contributions of moisture from oceanic and terrestrial sources to the interannual variability in oxygen isotope composition in summer monsoon rainfall. During weak monsoon years, the moisture contribution from the Arabian Sea dominates precipitation over the Indian subcontinent while the remote oceanic and terrestrial sources have a greater influence during strong monsoon years. We suggest that changes in monsoon circulation, moisture source, and precipitation intensity are interrelated and that speleothem oxygen isotope records from the region can potentially help reconstruct interannual to decadal monsoon rainfall variability.