2022 Articles

Droughts, Pluvials, and Wet Season Timing Across the Chao Phraya River Basin: A 254-Year Monthly Reconstruction from Tree Ring Widths and δ18O

Nguyen, Hung; Galelli, Stefano; Xu, Chenxi; Buckley, Brendan M.

Water system operations require subannual streamflow data—e.g., monthly or weekly—that are not readily achievable with conventional streamflow reconstructions from annual tree rings. This mismatch is particularly relevant to highly seasonal rivers such as Thailand's Chao Phraya. Here, we combine tree ring width and stable oxygen isotope ratios (δ18O) from Southeast Asia to produce 254-year, monthly-resolved reconstructions for all four major tributaries of the Chao Phraya. From the reconstructions, we derive subannual streamflow indices to examine past hydrological droughts and pluvials, and find coherence and heterogeneity in their histories. The monthly resolution reveals the spatiotemporal variability in wet season timing, caused by interactions between early summer typhoons, monsoon rains, catchment location, and topography. Monthly-resolved reconstructions, like the ones presented here, not only broaden our understanding of past hydroclimatic variability, but also provide data that are functional to water management and climate-risk analyses, a significant improvement over annual reconstructions.