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

• Main Authors: Steen-Larsen, Hans C., Johnsen, S.J., Masson-Delmotte, Valérie, Stenni, Barbara, Risi, C., Sodemann, Harald, Balslev-Clausen, David, Blunier, Thomas, Dahl-Jensen, Dorthe, Ellehøj, Mads D., Falourd, S., Grindsted, Aslak, Gkinis, Vasileios, Jouzel, J., Popp, Trevor, Sheldon, Simon, Simonsen, Sebastian B., Sjolte, Jesper, Steffensen, Jørgen P., Sperlich, Peter, Sveinbjörnsdottír, Árný E., Vinther, Bo M., White, James W.C.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: ETH Zurich 2013
• Subjects: Greenland; Ice Sheet; North Greenland
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000067919; http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/67919

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 δ18O and ~ 1.4‰ for δD. 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 ... : Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 13 (9) ...