Moisture sources and transport control year-round variations of stable
isotopes in precipitation over Bangladesh
Abstract
Indian summer monsoon (ISM) has profound impact on water resources over
the Asian Water Towers (AWTs) and surroundings. Stable isotopes in
precipitation (δO and δD) are crucial tracers of ISM moisture transport
processes. Here we presented spatiotemporal variations of stable
isotopes in precipitation at three stations over Bangladesh in 2017-2018
to evaluate the influence of moisture sources and transport on
intra-seasonal variations of stable isotopes in precipitation, combined
with local meteorological data, ERA5 reanalysis data and HYSPLIT model.
We found Bay of Bengal (BoB), tropical Indian Ocean (TIO) and Arabian
Sea (AS) were the primary moisture suppliers throughout the year and
moisture uptake process primarily occurred over BoB. The most enriched
δO and δD values exist in the pre-monsoon season, associated with
>50% contributions from BoB, and gradually decline
throughout the monsoon and post-monsoon seasons due to increased
contribution of moisture from AS (~30%) and IO
(~40%), and reach to their lowest values by the end of
the post-monsoon season when >25% contributed from BoB and
~20% from TIO. The strongly positive δO-OLR and
negative δO-humidity relationships were found at all three stations
showing a decreasing pattern from south to north.δO-temperature
(δO-precipitation) relationship was only found at southern stations at
local scale. Convective activities over the AS, BoB and northern IO
primarily regulate the δO depletion, and a weak (strong) flux-δO
relationship for northward (eastward) transport was found. This study
could improve understanding of moisture transport by the ISM for our
societies to promote the water resource management over AWTs.