A decade (2008–2017) of water stable-isotope composition of precipitation at Concordia Station, East Antarctica

• Main Authors: Dreossi, Giuliano, Masiol, Mauro, Stenni, Barbara, Zannoni, Daniele, Scarchilli, Claudio, Ciardini, Virginia, Casado, Mathieu, Landais, Amaëlle, Werner, Martin, Cauquoin, Alexandre, Casasanta, Giampietro, Guasta, Massimo, Posocco, Vittoria, Barbante, Carlo
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2023
• Subjects: Antarctic; Concordia Station; East Antarctica; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2813; https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2023/egusphere-2023-2813/

A ten-year record of oxygen and hydrogen isotopic composition of precipitation is here presented: from 2008 to 2017, 1483 daily precipitation samples were collected all-year round on a raised platform at Concordia Station, East Antarctica. Weather data were retrieved from the Italian Antarctic Meteo-Climatological Observatory AWS, while ERA5 was used to estimate total precipitation. The δ-temperature relationships were moderately high for daily data (r 2 =0.63 and 0.64 for δ 18 O and δ 2 H, respectively) and stronger using monthly data (r 2 =0.82 for both δ 18 O and δ 2 H), with a slope of about 0.5 ‰/°C for δ 18 O/T AWS (3.5 ‰/°C for δ 18 O/T AWS ), which remains consistent also using annual averages. The isotopic composition of precipitation is the input signal of the snow/ice system and this dataset will be useful to improve the interpretation of paleoclimate records and promote a better understanding of the post-depositional processes affecting the isotopic signal in ice cores. Isotope-enabled GCM ECHAM6-wiso output for the isotopic composition of precipitation was also compared to experimental data, showing moderately good relationships for δ 18 O and δ 2 H, but not for d-excess, nonetheless marking a substantial improvement from the previous release of the model.