Oxygen isotopes in tree rings record variation in precipitation δ(18)O and amount effects in the south of Mexico

[1] Natural archives of oxygen isotopes in precipitation may be used to study changes in the hydrological cycle in the tropics, but their interpretation is not straightforward. We studied to which degree tree rings of Mimosa acantholoba from southern Mexico record variation in isotopic composition of precipitation and which climatic processes influence oxygen isotopes in tree rings (δ(18)O(tr)). Interannual variation in δ(18)O(tr) was highly synchronized between trees and closely related to isotopic composition of rain measured at San Salvador, 710 km to the southwest. Correlations with δ(13)C, growth, or local climate variables (temperature, cloud cover, vapor pressure deficit (VPD)) were relatively low, indicating weak plant physiological influences. Interannual variation in δ(18)O(tr) correlated negatively with local rainfall amount and intensity. Correlations with the amount of precipitation extended along a 1000 km long stretch of the Pacific Central American coast, probably as a result of organized storm systems uniformly affecting rainfall in the region and its isotope signal; episodic heavy precipitation events, of which some are related to cyclones, deposit strongly (18)O-depleted rain in the region and seem to have affected the δ(18)O(tr) signal. Large-scale controls on the isotope signature include variation in sea surface temperatures of tropical north Atlantic and Pacific Ocean. In conclusion, we show that δ(18)O(tr) of M. acantholoba can be used as a proxy for source water δ(18)O and that interannual variation in δ(18)O(prec) is caused by a regional amount effect. This contrasts with δ(18)O signatures at continental sites where cumulative rainout processes dominate and thus provide a proxy for precipitation integrated over a much larger scale. Our results confirm that processes influencing climate-isotope relations differ between sites located, e.g., in the western Amazon versus coastal Mexico, and that tree ring isotope records can help in disentangling the processes influencing precipitation δ(18)O.