δ 18 O records in water vapor and an ice core from the eastern Pamir Plateau: Implications for paleoclimate reconstructions

• Published in: Earth and Planetary Science Letters
• Main Authors: Yu, Wusheng, Tian, Lide, Risi, Camille, Yao, Tandong, Ma, Yaoming, Zhao, Huabiao, Zhu, Haifeng, He, You, Xu, Baiqing, Zhang, Hongbo, Qu, Dongmei
• Other Authors: 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)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2016
• Subjects: water vapor; ice core; δ 18 O; eastern Pamir Plateau; [SDU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]; Indian
• Online Access: https://insu.hal.science/insu-03727094; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2016.10.001

International audience This study is the first to examine δ 18 O in daily water vapor at Taxkorgan on the eastern Pamir Plateau. The results show that changes in observed and simulated δ 18 O values in water vapor/precipitation at the event scale (using a LMDZ-iso model) were mainly affected by temperature. The influences of humidity, precipitation amount, and different moisture sources, such as the westerlies, local evaporated moisture, and polar air masses, on δ 18 O values are comparatively weak. The combination of the δ 18 O record from the Muztagata ice core, 58 km away from the study area, and the LMDZ-iso simulated annual δ 18 O pattern in precipitation at Taxkorgan also demonstrated that temperature, and particularly the temperature of the regions over which the southern branch of the westerlies flows, is the most important factor controlling δ 18 O variations. The results from this study area, which is dominated by the westerlies throughout the year, are markedly different from those derived from parts of the Tibetan Plateau that are dominated by the combined influences of the westerlies in winter and the Indian monsoon in summer. The results suggested that the eastern Pamir Plateau is an ideal location to reconstruct past temperature variations and that the δ 18 O records preserved in ice cores from the region are a suitable and robust proxy for temperature.