The summer 2012 Greenland heat wave: in situ and remote sensing observations of water vapor isotopic composition during an atmospheric river event

• Published in: Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
• Main Authors: Bonne, Jean-Louis, Steen-Larsen, Hans Christian, Risi, Camille, Werner, Martin, Sodemann, Harald, Lacour, Jean-Lionel, Fettweis, Xavier, Cesana, Grégory, Delmotte, Marc, Cattani, Olivier, Vallelonga, Paul, Kjaer, Helle Astrid, Clerbaux, Cathy, Sveinbjörnsdóttirffilmark, Árny Erla, Masson-Delmotte, Valérie
• Other Authors: Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement Gif-sur-Yvette (LSCE), 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)-Direction de Recherche Fondamentale (CEA) (DRF (CEA)), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA), Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique (UMR 8539) (LMD), Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-École polytechnique (X)-École des Ponts ParisTech (ENPC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Département des Géosciences - ENS Paris, École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL), Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung = Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research = Institut Alfred-Wegener pour la recherche polaire et marine (AWI), Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft = Helmholtz Association, Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science Zürich (IAC), Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich (ETH Zürich), Geophysical Institute Bergen (GFI / BiU), University of Bergen (UiB), Spectroscopie de l'atmosphère, Service de Chimie Quantique et Photophysique, Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Département de Géographie, Université de Liège, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), NASA-California Institute of Technology (CALTECH), ICOS-RAMCES (ICOS-RAMCES), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-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)-Direction de Recherche Fondamentale (CEA) (DRF (CEA)), Glaces et Continents, Climats et Isotopes Stables (GLACCIOS), Centre for Ice and Climate Copenhagen, Niels Bohr Institute Copenhagen (NBI), Faculty of Science Copenhagen, University of Copenhagen = Københavns Universitet (UCPH)-University of Copenhagen = Københavns Universitet (UCPH)-Faculty of Science Copenhagen, University of Copenhagen = Københavns Universitet (UCPH)-University of Copenhagen = Københavns Universitet (UCPH), TROPO - LATMOS, Laboratoire Atmosphères, Milieux, Observations Spatiales (LATMOS), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institute of Earth Sciences Reykjavik, University of Iceland Reykjavik, France (IPEV, INSU/CNRS, ANR); Belgium (FNRS-CFB, FWO); Canada (GSC); China (CAS); Denmark (FIST); Germany (AWI); iceland (Rannis); Japan (NIPR); Korea (KOPRI); Netherlands (NWO/ALW), ANR-10-CEPL-0008,GREENLAND,Groenland vert(2010)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2015
• Subjects: [SDU.STU.CL]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Climatology; Greenland; Ice Sheet; Ivittuut; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-01116711; https://hal.science/hal-01116711/document; https://hal.science/hal-01116711/file/2014JD022602.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1002/2014JD022602

International audience During July 7-12, 2012, extreme moist and warm conditions occurred over Greenland, leading to widespread surface melt. To investigate the physical processes during the atmospheric moisture transport of this event, we study the water vapour isotopic composition using surface in situ observations in Bermuda Island, South Greenland coast (Ivittuut) and Northwest Greenland ice sheet (NEEM), as well as remote sensing observations (IASI instrument on-board MetOp-A), depicting propagation of similar surface and mid-tropospheric humidity and δD signals. Simulations using Lagrangian moisture source diagnostic and water tagging in a regional model showed that Greenland was affected by an atmospheric river transporting moisture from the western subtropical North Atlantic Ocean, which is coherent with observations of snow pit impurities deposited at NEEM. At Ivittuut, surface air temperature, humidity and δD increases are observed. At NEEM, similar temperature increase is associated with a large and long-lasting ~100 δD enrichment and ~15 deuterium excess decrease, thereby reaching Ivittuut level. We assess the simulation of this event in two isotope-enabled atmospheric general circulation models (LMDz-iso and ECHAM5-wiso). LMDz-iso correctly captures the timing of propagation for this event identified in IASI data but depict too gradual variations when compared to surface data. Both models reproduce the surface meteorological and isotopic values during the event but underestimate the background deuterium excess at NEEM. Cloud liquid water content parametrization in LMDz-iso poorly impacts the vapour isotopic composition. Our data demonstrate that during this atmospheric river event the deuterium excess signal is conserved from the moisture source to Northwest Greenland.