Water isotopic variability in response to mesoscale convective system over the tropical ocean

In tropical regions, the empirical negative relationship between the isotopic content of precipitation and rainfall amount, known as the “amount effect”, has been used as a rationale for paleohydroclimate reconstruction from isotope records. However, there is still no comprehensive physical explanation for this empirical effect. Here we reconsider the well‐known amount effect using newly available isotope data for both surface water vapor and precipitation obtained from shipboard observations. In this study, we hypothesized that stratiform rainfall associated with mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) is a key process in reducing tropical water isotopic concentrations and tested this hypothesis with an idealized MCS model. Our conceptual model reasonably accounted for several observed features and indicated that isotopic reductions in tropical oceanic regions reflect a precipitating system's change. Relatively high isotope ratios corresponded to disorganized convection. On the other hand, MCSs were characterized by lower isotope ratios with increasing stratiform area. In addition, the amplitude of this isotopic depletion was related to the scale of the precipitation system. The lowest isotopic ratios were observed during the passage of large‐scale disturbances—corresponding to the Madden‐Julian oscillation convective envelope—in which MCSs are embedded. This means that the frequent appearance of MCSs results in further decreases in the isotopic ratio of surface vapor and precipitation. From this, we conclude that the amount effect can be interpreted as the development of a precipitation system from an isolated convection cell into a large‐scale system containing several MCSs and that past large‐scale convective activity can be reconstructed from isotope records.