Extreme short-term stable isotope variability revealed by continuous rainwater analysis

Munksgaard, N.C.;Wurster, C.M.;Bass, A.;Bird, M.I.

Abstract

The continuous real-time analysis, at 30-s intervals, of precipitation at an Australian tropical location revealed extreme and rapidly changing δ¹⁸O and δD values related to variations in moisture source areas, transport paths and precipitation histories. The range of δ¹⁸O (-19.6‰ to +2.6‰) and δD (-140‰ to +13‰) values from 5948 measurements of nine rain events over 15 days during an 8-month period at a single location was comparable with the range measured in 1532 monthly samples from all seven Australian Global Network of Isotopes in Precipitation stations from 1962 to 2002. Extreme variations in δ¹⁸O (-8.7‰ to -19.6‰) and δD (-54‰ to -140‰) were recorded within a single 4-h period. Real-time stable isotope monitoring of precipitation at a high temporal resolution enables new and powerful tracer applications in climatology, hydrology, ecophysiology and palaeoclimatology.

Journal

Hydrological Processes

Publication Name

N/A

Volume

ISBN/ISSN

0885-6087

Edition

N/A

Issue

Pages Count

Location

N/A

Publisher

Wiley-Blackwell

Publisher Url

N/A

Publisher Location

N/A

Publish Date

N/A

Url

N/A

Date

N/A

EISSN

N/A

DOI

10.1002/hyp.9505