Evaluating a Moist Isentropic Framework for Poleward Moisture Transport: Implications for Water Isotopes Over Antarctica
The ability to identify moisture source regions and sinks, and to model the transport pathways that link them in simple yet physical ways, is critical for our understanding of climate today and in the past. Using water tagging and isotopic tracer experiments in the Community Earth System Model, comb...
| Published in: | Geophysical Research Letters |
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| Main Authors: | , , |
| Language: | unknown |
| Published: |
2022
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1571490 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1571490 https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL082965 |
| Summary: | The ability to identify moisture source regions and sinks, and to model the transport pathways that link them in simple yet physical ways, is critical for our understanding of climate today and in the past. Using water tagging and isotopic tracer experiments in the Community Earth System Model, combined with theoretical arguments, this work provides compelling evidence of the utility of a moist isentropic view of poleward moisture transport. Importantly, because conservation of moist entropy requires that air masses trade sensible and latent heat for potential energy, the moist isentropic framework provides strong energetic constraints on the atmosphere's effective rainout, which the isotope ratios of water vapor and precipitation record. The analysis confirms not only that distinct zonal bands supply moisture to high- and low-elevation polar sites, but also that changes in these source regions are inextricably linked to changes in temperature and rainout. |
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