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Abstract. The Asian monsoon anticyclone (AMA) represents one of thewettest regions in the lower stratosphere (LS) and is a key contributor tothe global annual maximum in LS water vapour. While the AMA wet pool islinked with persistent convection in the region and horizontal confinementof the anticyclone, there remain ambiguities regarding the role oftropopause-overshooting convection in maintaining the regional LS watervapour maximum. This study tackles this issue using a unique set ofobservations from aboard the high-altitude M55-Geophysica aircraft deployedin Nepal in summer 2017 within the EU StratoClim project. We use acombination of airborne measurements (water vapour, ice water, waterisotopes, cloud backscatter) together with ensemble trajectory modellingcoupled with satellite observations to characterize the processescontrolling water vapour and clouds in the confined lower stratosphere (CLS)of the AMA. Our analysis puts in evidence the dual role of overshootingconvection, which may lead to hydration or dehydration depending on thesynoptic-scale tropopause temperatures in the AMA. We show that all of theobserved CLS water vapour enhancements are traceable to convective eventswithin the AMA and furthermore bear an isotopic signature of the overshootingprocess. A surprising result is that the plumes of moist air with mixingratios nearly twice the background level can persist for weeks whilstrecirculating within the anticyclone, without being subject to irreversibledehydration through ice settling. Our findings highlight the importance ofconvection and recirculation within the AMA for the transport of water into thestratosphere.