Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Validation of δ18O as a proxy for past monsoon rain by multi-GCM simulations

  • Published:
Climate Dynamics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Stable oxygen isotope ratios (δ18O) of tree cellulose and speleothem carbonate are useful proxies for past monsoon rain in many tropical regions, as a decrease in rain δ18O is observed with increase in rainfall on a monthly time scale. This amount effect varies spatially; therefore a local calibration, with actual measurements of rain amount and its δ18O is required. Such observations, however, are quite limited in space and time. To circumvent this difficulty, many isotope enabled general circulation models (GCMs) are used to aid the interpretation of 18O proxies; nevertheless, all such simulations taken together are yet to be evaluated against observations over the Indian summer monsoon (ISM) region. Here we examine ten such GCM simulations archived by the stable water isotope INtercomparison Group, phase 2. The spatial patterns of simulated ISM rainfall and its δ18O are in good agreement with the limited observations available. Simulations nudged with observed wind fields show better skill in reproducing the observed spatio-temporal pattern of rainfall and its δ18O. A large discrepancy is observed in the magnitude of the simulated amount effect over the Indian subcontinent between the models and observation, probably because models simulate the spatial distribution of monsoon precipitation differently. Nudged simulations show that interannual variability of rainfall δ18O at proxy sites are controlled by either regional (rather than local) rainfall or upstream rain out. Interannual variability of rainfall δ18O over the East Asian region is well correlated with ENSO, while it is only weakly correlated over the Indian sub-continent.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adler RF, Huffman GJ, Chang A, Ferraro R, Xie P-P, Janowiak J, Rudolf B, Schneider U, Curtis S, Bolvin D, Gruber A, Susskind J, Arkin P, Nelkin E (2003) The version-2 global precipitation climatology project (GPCP) monthly precipitation analysis (1979–present). J Hydrometeorol 4:1147–1167. doi:10.1175/1525-7541(2003)004<1147:TVGPCP>2.0.CO;2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Araguás-Araguás L, Froehlich K, Rozanski K (2000) Deuterium and oxygen-18 isotope composition of precipitation and atmospheric moisture. Hydrol Process 14:1341–1355. doi:10.1002/1099-1085(20000615)14:8<1341:AID-HYP983>3.0.CO;2-Z

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Augustin L, Barbante C, Barnes PRF, Barnola JM, Bigler M, Castellano E, Cattani O, Chappellaz J, Dahl-Jensen D, Delmonte B, Dreyfus G, Durand G, Falourd S, Fischer H, Flückiger J, Hansson ME, Huybrechts P, Jugie G, Johnsen SJ, Jouzel J, Kaufmann P, Kipfstuhl J, Lambert F, Lipenkov VY, Littot GC, Longinelli A, Lorrain R, Maggi V, Masson-Delmotte V, Miller H, Mulvaney R, Oerlemans J, Oerter H, Orombelli G, Parrenin F, Peel DA, Petit J-R, Raynaud D, Ritz C, Ruth U, Schwander J, Siegenthaler U, Souchez R, Stauffer B, Steffensen JP, Stenni B, Stocker TF, Tabacco IE, Udisti R, Van De Wal RSW, Van Den Broeke M, Weiss J, Wilhelms F, Winther J-G, Wolff EW, Zucchelli M (2004) Eight glacial cycles from an Antarctic ice core. Nature 429:623–628. doi:10.1038/nature02599

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berkelhammer M, Sinha A, Stott L, Cheng H, Pausata FSR, Yoshimura K (2012) An Abrupt Shift in the Indian Monsoon 4000 Years Ago. In: Giosan L, Fuller DQ, Nicoll K, Flad RK, Clift PD (eds) Climates, landscapes, and civilizations. American Geophysical Union, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Breitenbach SFM, Adkins JF, Meyer H, Marwan N, Kumar KK, Haug GH (2010) Strong influence of water vapor source dynamics on stable isotopes in precipitation observed in Southern Meghalaya, NE India. Earth Planet Sci Lett 292:212–220. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2010.01.038

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Conroy JL, Cobb KM, Noone D (2013) Comparison of precipitation isotope variability across the tropical Pacific in observations and SWING2 model simulations. J Geophys Res Atmos 118:5867–5892. doi:10.1002/jgrd.50412

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dansgaard W (1964) Stable isotopes in precipitation. Tellus 16:436–468. doi:10.1111/j.2153-3490.1964.tb00181.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Field RD, Jones DBA, Brown DP (2010) Effects of postcondensation exchange on the isotopic composition of water in the atmosphere. J Geophys Res 115:D24305. doi:10.1029/2010JD014334

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Field RD, Kim D, LeGrande AN, Worden J, Kelley M, Schmidt GA (2014) Evaluating climate model performance in the tropics with retrievals of water isotopic composition from Aura TES. Geophys Res Lett 41:6030–6036. doi:10.1002/2014GL060572

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gat JR (1996) Oxygen and hydrogen isotopes in the hydrologic cycle. Annu Rev Earth Planet Sci 24:225–262. doi:10.1146/annurev.earth.24.1.225

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gat J, Gonfiantini R (1981) Stable isotope hydrology. Deuterium and oxygen-18 in the water cycle. In: IAEA technical reports series 210, Vienna

  • Goswami BN, Venugopal V, Sengupta D, Madhusoodanan MS, Xavier PK (2006) Increasing trend of extreme rain events over India in a warming environment. Science 314:1442–1445. doi:10.1126/science.1132027

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoffmann G, Heimann M (1997) Water isotope modeling in the Asian monsoon region. Quat Int 37:115–128. doi:10.1016/1040-6182(96)00004-3

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ishizaki Y, Yoshimura K, Kanae S, Kimoto M, Kurita N, Oki T (2012) Interannual variability of H 2 18 O in precipitation over the Asian monsoon region. J Geophys Res 117:1–16. doi:10.1029/2011JD015890

    Google Scholar 

  • Jasechko S, Sharp ZD, Gibson JJ, Birks SJ, Yi Y, Fawcett PJ (2013) Terrestrial water fluxes dominated by transpiration. Nature 1–5 496:347–350. doi:10.1038/nature11983

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Joussaume S, Sadourny R, Jouzel J (1984) A general circulation model of water isotope cycles in the atmosphere. Nature 311:24–29. doi:10.1038/311024a0

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kumar KK (1999) On the weakening relationship between the indian monsoon and ENSO. Science 284:2156–2159. doi:10.1126/science.284.5423.2156

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kumar KK, Rajagopalan B, Hoerling M, Bates G, Cane M (2006) Unraveling the mystery of Indian monsoon failure during El Niño. Science 314:115–119. doi:10.1126/science.1131152

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kurita N (2013) Water isotopic variability in response to mesoscale convective system over the tropical ocean. J Geophys Res Atmos 118:10,376–10390. doi:10.1002/jgrd.50754

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kurita N, Noone D, Risi C, Schmidt GA, Yamada H, Yoneyama K (2011) Intraseasonal isotopic variation associated with the Madden-Julian Oscillation. J Geophys Res 116:D24101. doi:10.1029/2010JD015209

    Google Scholar 

  • Laskar AH, Yadava MG, Ramesh R, Polyak VJ, Asmerom Y (2013) A 4 kyr stalagmite oxygen isotopic record of the past Indian Summer Monsoon in the Andaman Islands. Geochem Geophys Geosyst 14:3555–3566. doi:10.1002/ggge.20203

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lawrence JR (2004) Stable isotopic composition of water vapor in the tropics. J Geophys Res 109:D06115. doi:10.1029/2003JD004046

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee J-E, Fung I (2008) “Amount effect” of water isotopes and quantitative analysis of post-condensation processes. Hydrol Process 22:1–8. doi:10.1002/hyp.6637

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee J-E, Fung I, DePaolo DJ, Henning CC (2007) Analysis of the global distribution of water isotopes using the NCAR atmospheric general circulation model. J Geophys Res 112:D16306. doi:10.1029/2006JD007657

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee J-E, Pierrehumbert R, Swann A, Lintner BR (2009) Sensitivity of stable water isotopic values to convective parameterization schemes. Geophys Res Lett 36:L23801. doi:10.1029/2009GL040880

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee J-E, Risi C, Fung I, Worden J, Scheepmaker RA, Lintner B, Frankenberg C (2012) Asian monsoon hydrometeorology from TES and SCIAMACHY water vapor isotope measurements and LMDZ simulations: implications for speleothem climate record interpretation. J Geophys Res 117:D15112. doi:10.1029/2011JD017133

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lekshmy PR, Midhun M, Ramesh R, Jani RA (2013) Is the Isotopic Composition of Rainfall of the South west coast of India Independent of Local Rainfall Amount? In: 12th ISMAS Triennial international conference on mass spectrometry, pp 306–308

  • Lekshmy PR, Midhun M, Ramesh R, Jani RA (2014) 18O depletion in monsoon rain relates to large scale organized convection rather than the amount of rainfall. Sci Rep 4:5661. doi:10.1038/srep05661

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mathieu R, Pollard D, Cole JE, White JWC, Webb RS, Thompson SL (2002) Simulation of stable water isotope variations by the GENESIS GCM for modern conditions. J Geophys Res 107:4037. doi:10.1029/2001JD900255

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Midhun M, Lekshmy PR, Ramesh R (2013) Hydrogen and oxygen isotopic compositions of water vapor over the Bay of Bengal during monsoon. Geophys Res Lett 40:6324–6328. doi:10.1002/2013GL058181

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moore M, Kuang Z, Blossey PN (2014) A moisture budget perspective of the amount effect. Geophys Res Lett 41:1329–1335. doi:10.1002/2013GL058302

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nanjundiah RS, Vidyunmala V, Srinivasan J (2005) On the difference in the seasonal cycle of rainfall over India in the Community Climate System Model (CCSM2) and Community Atmospheric Model (CAM2). Geophys Res Lett 32:1–3. doi:10.1029/2005GL024278

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Noone D, Sturm C (2010) Comprehensive dynamical models of global and regional water isotope distributions. In: Isoscapes. Springer, pp 195–219

  • Ramesh R, Tiwari M, Chakraborty S, Managave SR, Yadava MG, Sinha DK (2010) Retrieval of south Asian monsoon variation during the Holocene from natural climate archives. Curr Sci 99:1770–1786

    Google Scholar 

  • Risi C, Bony S, Vimeux F (2008) Influence of convective processes on the isotopic composition (δ18O and δD) of precipitation and water vapor in the tropics: 2. Physical interpretation of the amount effect. J Geophys Res 113:D19306. doi:10.1029/2008JD009943

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Risi C, Bony S, Vimeux F, Chong M, Descroix L (2010a) Evolution of the stable water isotopic composition of the rain sampled along Sahelian squall lines. Q J R Meteorol Soc 136:227–242. doi:10.1002/qj.485

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Risi C, Bony S, Vimeux F, Jouzel J (2010b) Water-stable isotopes in the LMDZ4 general circulation model: model evaluation for present-day and past climates and applications to climatic interpretations of tropical isotopic records. J Geophys Res Atmos 115:1–27. doi:10.1029/2009JD013255

    Google Scholar 

  • Risi C, Noone D, Worden J, Frankenberg C, Stiller G, Kiefer M, Funke B, Walker K, Bernath P, Schneider M, Wunch D, Sherlock V, Deutscher N, Griffith D, Wennberg PO, Strong K, Smale D, Mahieu E, Barthlott S, Hase F, García O, Notholt J, Warneke T, Toon G, Sayres D, Bony S, Lee J, Brown D, Uemura R, Sturm C (2012) Process-evaluation of tropospheric humidity simulated by general circulation models using water vapor isotopologues: 1. Comparison between models and observations. J Geophys Res 117:1–26. doi:10.1029/2011JD016621

    Google Scholar 

  • Sabin TP, Krishnan R, Ghattas J, Denvil S, Dufresne J-L, Hourdin F, Pascal T (2013) High resolution simulation of the South Asian monsoon using a variable resolution global climate model. Clim Dyn 41:173–194. doi:10.1007/s00382-012-1658-8

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt GA, LeGrande AN, Hoffmann G (2007) Water isotope expressions of intrinsic and forced variability in a coupled ocean-atmosphere model. J Geophys Res 112:D10103. doi:10.1029/2006JD007781

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sime LC, Wolff EW, Oliver KIC, Tindall JC (2009) Evidence for warmer interglacials in East Antarctic ice cores. Nature 462:342–345. doi:10.1038/nature08564

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sinha A, Cannariato KG, Stott LD, Cheng H, Edwards RL, Yadava MG, Ramesh R, Singh IB (2007) A 900-year (600 to 1500 A.D.) record of the Indian summer monsoon precipitation from the core monsoon zone of India. Geophys Res Lett. doi:10.1029/2007GL030431

  • Taylor KE (2001) Summarizing multiple aspects of model performance in a single diagram. J Geophys Res 106:7183. doi:10.1029/2000JD900719

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vuille M, Werner M, Bradley RS, Keimig F (2005) Stable isotopes in precipitation in the Asian monsoon region. J Geophys Res 110:1–15. doi:10.1029/2005JD006022

    Google Scholar 

  • Xie P, Arkin PA (1997) Global precipitation: a 17-year monthly analysis based on gauge observations, satellite estimates, and numerical model outputs. Bull Am Meteorol Soc 78:2539–2558. doi:10.1175/1520-0477(1997)078<2539:GPAYMA>2.0.CO;2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yadava MG, Ramesh R (2005) Monsoon reconstruction from radiocarbon dated tropical Indian speleothems. Holocene 15:48–59. doi:10.1191/0959683605h1783rp

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yadava M, Ramesh R, Pandarinath K (2007) A positive “amount effect” in the Sahayadri (Western Ghats) rainfall. Curr Sci 93:560–564

    Google Scholar 

  • Yoshimura K, Kanamitsu M, Noone D, Oki T (2008) Historical isotope simulation using Reanalysis atmospheric data. J Geophys Res 113:D19108. doi:10.1029/2008JD010074

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yurtsever Y, Gat JR (1981) Atmospheric waters. In: Gat J, Gonfiantini R (eds) Stable isotope hydrology: deuterium and oxygen-18 in the water cycle. IAEA technical reports series 210, pp 103–142

Download references

Acknowledgments

We acknowledge the contributors to SWING2 project. We thank two anonymous reviewers, whose comments considerably improved the manuscript. We thank ISRO-GBP for funding.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geosciences Division, Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, 380009, India

    M. Midhun & R. Ramesh

  2. Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar, VGEC Campus, Ahmedabad, 382424, India

    M. Midhun

  3. Sardar Patel University, Vallabh Vidyanagar, 388120, India

    R. Ramesh

Authors
  1. M. Midhun
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. R. Ramesh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to M. Midhun.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (DOCX 437 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Midhun, M., Ramesh, R. Validation of δ18O as a proxy for past monsoon rain by multi-GCM simulations. Clim Dyn 46, 1371–1385 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-015-2652-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-015-2652-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation