Reinterpreting precipitation isotope records from Asian monsoon region through the hidden role of atmospheric updraft
Abstract Speleothem oxygen isotope records (δ 18 O s ) from the Asian monsoon region provide valuable insights into past hydroclimate variability, yet their interpretation relies on understanding the controls on modern precipitation isotopes (δ 18 O p ). Although numerous explanations for the spatiotemporal variability of δ 18 O p across this region have been proposed, the primary controls remain unresolved. Here we propose a hypothesis to explain δ 18 O p variability from δ 18 O p records at 46 sites along a transect spanning the Asian monsoon region. Our results show that seasonally low δ 18 O p values migrate gradually westward along the east–west transect. We further demonstrate that the corresponding westward migration of atmospheric updraft, particularly convection, controls δ 18 O p variations along the transect. In contrast to previous interpretations emphasizing monsoon moisture advection, our findings highlight atmospheric updraft as an important control on δ 18 O p variations across the Asian monsoon region. These findings provide an alternative perspective on interpreting the climate signals preserved in Asian δ 18 O s records.
Authors
- Rong Guo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3203-614X)
- Hong‐Chun Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9614-7119)
- Kei Yoshimura (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5761-1561)
- Supriyo Chakraborty (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3171-7808)
- Hai Cheng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5305-9458)
- M. Midhun (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0673-1811)
- Zhaowei Jing (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1049-4505)
- Stephen Lewis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6929-6626)
- Lonnie G. Thompson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5371-2579)
- Wusheng Yu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3089-0820)
- Pengjie Ren (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2964-6422)
- Antonios Mamalakis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1731-7595)
- Qiaoyi Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-7652-8644)
- Liangcheng Tan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1932-7102)
- Deliang Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0288-5618)
- Neha Trivedi
- Zhuanxia Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-0154-4551)
- Ziran Lei (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-9359-6992)
- Jingyi Zhang
- R. K. Trivedi
- Oliver Kracht
Institutions
- Yunnan Normal University (CN)
- International Atomic Energy Agency (AT)
- Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IN)
- National Taiwan University (TW)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Cochin University of Science and Technology (IN)
- Beijing Forestry University (CN)
- Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research (CN)
- Institute of Earth Environment (CN)
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- University of Virginia (US)
- The Ohio State University (US)
- The University of Tokyo (JP)
- Henan Normal University (CN)
- James Cook University (AU)
- Xi'an Jiaotong University (CN)
- Dr. Hari Singh Gour University (IN)
- Tsinghua University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2026-09-11
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-77635-5
- Primary Topic
- Geology and Paleoclimatology Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00