Simultaneous Ocean Water and Boundary Layer Water Vapor Isotopes in Western Arctic, 2016 ...

• Main Author: Klein, Eric
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: NSF Arctic Data Center 2023
• Subjects: Arctic; water; isotope; vapor; ocean; Arctic Ocean; Chukchi Shelf; Chukchi; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.18739/a2gq6r39t; https://arcticdata.io/catalog/view/doi:10.18739/A2GQ6R39T

Water isotopes (δ18O (delta-O-18) , δ2H (delta deuterium), deuterium-excess) are important tracers that help understand the changing Arctic water cycle and how Arctic sourced water can influence lower latitudes. We present simultaneous boundary layer water vapor and ocean water isotopes measured continuously from the western Arctic Ocean. Sea surface water isotopes vary between the shallower continental Chukchi Shelf and deeper Chukchi Borderlands waters. The Chukchi Borderlands surface waters are less saline than the Chukchi Shelf, as it is influenced by greater sea ice cover and contribution of sea ice melt to the surface freshwater component. This greater contribution of sea ice melt results in lower deuterium-excess (δ2H - 8*δ18O) surface water values in the deeper Chukchi Borderlands than on the shallower Chukchi Shelf. Additionally, the sea ice melt contributions to freshwater are less than river runoff, but freshwater from both sources decrease substantially below 70 meters depth in the Chukchi ...