Relating Moisture Transport to Stable Water Vapor Isotopic Variations of Ambient Wintertime along the Western Coast of Korea

Abstract

Atmospheric water vapor transfers energy, causes meteorological phenomena and can be modified by climate change in the western coast region of Korea. In Korea, previous studies have utilized precipitation isotopic compositions in the water cycle for correlations with climate variables, but there are few studies using water vapor isotopes. In this study, water vapor was directly collected by a cryogenic method, analyzed for its isotopic compositions, and used to trace the origin and history of water vapor in the western coastal region of Korea during the winter of 2015/2016. Our analysis of paired mixing ratios with water vapor isotopes can explain the mechanism of water vapor isotopic fractionation and the extent of the mixing of two different air masses. We confirm the correlation between water vapor isotopes and meteorological parameters such as temperature, relative humidity, and specific humidity. The main water vapor in winter was derived from the continental polar region of northern Asia and showed an enrichment of 10 per mil (δ 18 O) through the evaporation of the Yellow Sea. Our results demonstrate the utility of using ground-based isotope observations as a complementary resource for constraining isotope-enabled Global Circulation Model in future investigations of atmospheric water cycles. These measurements are expected to support climate studies (speleothem) in the west coast region of Korea.

Controls on stable isotopic characteristics of water vapour over Thailand

“…Furthermore, we investigated the relationship between air temperature and δ 18 O v (Figure S5). A previous study (Kim et al, 2019) documented that the water vapour δ 18 O was more positive when temperature increased, known as the temperature effect. However, the temperature effect was not found in Thailand.…”

Review on Applications of 17O in Hydrological Cycle

“…Two elements-oxygen and hydrogen, in water molecule with their stable isotopes ( 16 O, 17 O, 18 O, 1 H, and 2 H or D) and their ratios (most commonly D/H or 18 O/ 16 O) have been widely used as hydrological or climatological tracers because of their sensitivity to environmental conditions during the evaporation, condensation, melting, and freezing of water [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 ]. Generally, lighter isotopes ( 1 H, 16 O, and 17 O) are more likely to evaporate into the gas phase, while heavier isotopes (D and 18 O) tend to condense into the liquid or solid phase.…”

“…Isotopic values have been extensively used in many studies to investigate moisture transport, air mass circulation, precipitation patterns [ 3 , 9 , 10 , 11 ], snow hydrology, water movement and balance [ 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 ] and the atmospheric water cycle through simulations based on isotope-enabled models [ 16 ]. The most depleted isotopic values are observed in polar precipitation, which is formed from cold air masses, and seasonal high and low values are observed, especially in coastal regions [ 2 , 4 , 5 ].…”