IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v10y2019i1d10.1038_s41467-019-09242-6.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Resolving the controls of water vapour isotopes in the Atlantic sector

Author

Listed:
  • Jean-Louis Bonne

    (Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research)

  • Melanie Behrens

    (Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research)

  • Hanno Meyer

    (Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research)

  • Sepp Kipfstuhl

    (Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research)

  • Benjamin Rabe

    (Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research)

  • Lutz Schönicke

    (Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research)

  • Hans Christian Steen-Larsen

    (University of Bergen and Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research
    Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen)

  • Martin Werner

    (Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research)

Abstract

Stable water isotopes are employed as hydrological tracers to quantify the diverse implications of atmospheric moisture for climate. They are widely used as proxies for studying past climate changes, e.g., in isotope records from ice cores and speleothems. Here, we present a new isotopic dataset of both near-surface vapour and ocean surface water from the North Pole to Antarctica, continuously measured from a research vessel throughout the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans during a period of two years. Our observations contribute to a better understanding and modelling of water isotopic composition. The observations reveal that the vapour deuterium excess within the atmospheric boundary layer is not modulated by wind speed, contrary to the commonly used theory, but controlled by relative humidity and sea surface temperature only. In sea ice covered regions, the sublimation of deposited snow on sea ice is a key process controlling the local water vapour isotopic composition.

Suggested Citation

  • Jean-Louis Bonne & Melanie Behrens & Hanno Meyer & Sepp Kipfstuhl & Benjamin Rabe & Lutz Schönicke & Hans Christian Steen-Larsen & Martin Werner, 2019. "Resolving the controls of water vapour isotopes in the Atlantic sector," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 10(1), pages 1-10, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:10:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-019-09242-6
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-09242-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-09242-6
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-019-09242-6?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:10:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-019-09242-6. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.