Southeast Asian ecological dependency on Tibetan Plateau streamflow over the last millennium ...

• Main Author: Chen, Feng
• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: Mendeley Data 2024
• Subjects: Water; Pacific; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.17632/7km7vmk4f3; https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/7km7vmk4f3

The great river systems originating from the Tibetan Plateau are pivotal for the well-being of more than half the global population. Our understanding of historical ranges and future changes in water availability for much of southeast Asia is, however, limited by short observational records and complex environmental factors. Here, we present annually resolved and absolutely dated tree ring-based streamflow reconstructions for the Mekong, Salween and Yarlung Tsangpo Rivers since 1000 CE, which are supplemented by corresponding model projections until 2100 CE. We show a significant positive correlation between streamflow and dry season vegetation indices over the Indochinese Peninsula, revealing the importance of the Tibetan Water Tower for the functioning and productivity of ecological and societal systems in southeast Asia. The streamflow variability is associated with low-frequency sea-surface temperature variability in the North Atlantic and North Pacific. We find that streamflow extremes coincide with ...