The paper presents oxygen and hydrogen isotopes of 284 precipitation event samples systematically collected in Irkutsk, in the Baikal region (southeast Siberia), between June 2011 and April 2017. This is the first high‐resolution dataset of stable isotopes of precipitation from this poorly studied region of continental Asia, which has a high potential for isotope‐based palaeoclimate research. The dataset revealed distinct seasonal variations: relatively high δ18O (up to −4‰) and δD (up to −40‰) values characterize summer air masses, and lighter isotope composition (−41‰ for δ18O and −322‰ for δD) is characteristic of winter precipitation. Our results show that air temperature mainly affects the isotope composition of precipitation, and no significant correlations were obtained for precipitation amount and relative humidity. A new temperature dependence was established for weighted mean monthly precipitation: +0.50‰/°C (r2 = 0.83; p
A long‐term precipitation stable isotope dataset covering every month of the year at least 3 times has been obtained for Irkutsk in southeast Siberia. Distinct seasonal variations are mainly due to changes in air temperature. A new reliable and representative temperature dependency was established for weighted mean monthly precipitation: +0.50‰/°C for δ18O and +3.8‰/°C for δD.
BMBF http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100002347
SSHRC http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000155
Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100003443