Continuous monitoring of summer surface water vapor isotopic composition above the Greenland Ice Sheet

• Published in: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
• Main Authors: Steen-Larsen, H.C., Johnsen, S.J., Masson-Delmotte, Valérie, Stenni, B., Risi, C., Sodemann, H., Balslev-Clausen, D., Blunier, T., Dahl-Jensen, D., Ellehøj, M.D., Falourd, S., Grindsted, A., Gkinis, V., Jouzel, Jean, Popp, T., Sheldon, S., Simonsen, S.B., Sjolte, J., Steffensen, J.P., Sperlich, P., Sveinbjörnsdóttir, A.E., Vinther, B.M., White, J.W.C.
• Other Authors: Centre for Ice and Climate Copenhagen, Niels Bohr Institute Copenhagen (NBI), Faculty of Science Copenhagen, University of Copenhagen = Københavns Universitet (KU)-University of Copenhagen = Københavns Universitet (KU)-Faculty of Science Copenhagen, University of Copenhagen = Københavns Universitet (KU)-University of Copenhagen = Københavns Universitet (KU), Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), University of Colorado Boulder -National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement Gif-sur-Yvette (LSCE), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ), Glaces et Continents, Climats et Isotopes Stables (GLACCIOS), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ), Departments of Mathematics and Geosciences, Environmental and Marine Sciences, University of Trieste, Italy, Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique (UMR 8539) (LMD), Département des Géosciences - ENS Paris, École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS Paris), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS Paris), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-École des Ponts ParisTech (ENPC)-École polytechnique (X)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC), Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science Zürich (IAC), Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich (ETH Zürich), Danish Climate Centre, Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI), Department of Geology, Lund University, Sölvegatan 12, SE-22362 Lund, Sweden, Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry (MPI-BGC), Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Institute of Science, University of Reykjavik, Dunhaga 3, Reykjavik 107, Iceland, Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR), University of Colorado Boulder
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2013
• Subjects: [SDU.STU.GP]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Geophysics [physics.geo-ph]; Arctic; Greenland; Ice Sheet; North Greenland; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01092109; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01092109/document; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01092109/file/acp-13-4815-2013.pdf; https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-4815-2013

International audience We present here surface water vapor isotopic measurements conducted from June to August 2010 at the NEEM (North Greenland Eemian Drilling Project) camp, NW Greenland (77.45° N, 51.05° W, 2484 m a.s.l.). Measurements were conducted at 9 different heights from 0.1 m to 13.5 m above the snow surface using two different types of cavity-enhanced near-infrared absorption spectroscopy analyzers. For each instrument specific protocols were developed for calibration and drift corrections. The inter-comparison of corrected results from different instruments reveals excellent reproducibility, stability, and precision with a standard deviations of ~0.23‰ for d18O and ~1.4‰ for dD. Diurnal and intraseasonal variations show strong relationships between changes in local surface humidity and water vapor isotopic composition, and with local and synoptic weather conditions. This variability probably results from the interplay between local moisture fluxes, linked with firn-air exchanges, boundary layer dynamics, and large-scale moisture advection. Particularly remarkable are several episodes characterized by high (> 40 ‰) surface water vapor deuterium excess. Air mass back-trajectory calculations from atmospheric analyses and watv e er tagging in the LMDZiso (Laboratory of Meteorology Dynamics Zoom-isotopic) atmospheric model reveal that these events are associated with predominant Arctic air mass origin. The analysis suggests that high deuterium excess leveo l ls are a result of strong kinetic fractionation during eva aporation at the sea-ice margin. © Author(s) 2013.