A 338-year tree-ring oxygen isotope record from Thai teak captures the variations in the Asian summer monsoon system

A 338-year oxygen isotope record from teak tree-ring cellulose collected from Mae Hong Son province in northwestern Thailand was presented. The tree-ring series preserves the isotopic signal of the regional wet season rainfall and relative humidity. Tree-ring δ(18)O correlates strongly with regional rainfall from May to October, showing coherent variations over large areas in Southeast Asia. We reconstructed the summer monsoon season (May to October) rainfall based on a linear regression model that explained 35.2% of the actual rainfall variance. Additionally, we found that in the 19(th) century, there was a remarkable drought during many years that corresponded to regional historic drought events. The signals of the June to September Indian summer monsoon (ISM) for the period between 1948 and 2009 were clearly found. Spatial correlations and spectral analyses revealed a strong impact of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on tree-ring δ(18)O. However, ENSO influenced the tree-ring δ(18)O more strongly in the 1870–1906, 1907–1943, and 1944–1980 periods than in the 1981–2015 period, which corresponded to periods of weaker and stronger ISM intensity.