Oxygen Isotopes in Tree Rings: A 345 Year Record of Precipitation in Amazonia
Abstract
The Amazon basin is one of the world's key centers of atmospheric convection and acts as an engine for global hydrologic circulation. Despite its importance, a paucity of high resolution climate data exists for this region, in large part due to a poor instrumental record. The oxygen isotopic measurement of meteoric water has been used extensively to reconstruct past temperatures derived from ice cores, corals, and tree rings but is only recently recognized as a precipitation proxy in the tropics. Here we present a continuous, highly resolved (intra-annual), 345 year oxygen isotopic record from the Madre de Dios department in Southeastern Peru. Using tropical hardwood species Dipteryx micrantha, we present oxygen (and carbon) isotopic data from digested tree ring cellulose. We also present some of the first intra-annual (early wood versus late wood) isotopic data on this old growth tropical species. We demonstrate the utility of Amazon tropical tree rings to accurately record rainfall. We also identify that this meteoric water was delivered to the region via the South American Low-level Jet (SALLJ), which develops over the Atlantic and is the major water source during the South American Summer Monsoon.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2008
- Bibcode:
- 2008AGUFMPP31B1488J
- Keywords:
-
- 1041 Stable isotope geochemistry (0454;
- 4870)