Articles | Volume 22, issue 13
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-8863-2022
© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-8863-2022
© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| Highlight paper
| 
11 Jul 2022
Research article | Highlight paper |
| 11 Jul 2022
| 11 Jul 2022
Stable water isotope signals in tropical ice clouds in the West African monsoon simulated with a regional convection-permitting model
Andries Jan de Vries
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, ETH Zurich,
Zurich, Switzerland
Franziska Aemisegger
Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, ETH Zurich,
Zurich, Switzerland
Stephan Pfahl
Institute of Meteorology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin,
Germany
Heini Wernli
Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, ETH Zurich,
Zurich, Switzerland
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16 citations as recorded by crossref.
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- Toward a process-oriented understanding of water in the climate system: recent insights from stable isotopes A. Bailey et al. 10.1088/2752-5295/ada17b
- A Highly Sensitive TDLAS-Based Water Vapor Isotopes Sensor Using a Quantum Cascade Laser W. Jin et al. 10.3390/s25030840
- Water isotopic characterisation of the cloud–circulation coupling in the North Atlantic trades – Part 2: The imprint of the atmospheric circulation at different scales L. Villiger & F. Aemisegger 10.5194/acp-24-957-2024
- Quantifying free tropospheric moisture sources over the western tropical Atlantic with numerical water tracers and isotopes S. Botsyun et al. 10.1002/asl.1274
- Opinion: Tropical cirrus – from micro-scale processes to climate-scale impacts B. Gasparini et al. 10.5194/acp-23-15413-2023
- High-precision in situ sensor for methane isotope (δ13C) measurement based on the near-infrared off-axis integrated cavity output spectroscopy Y. Liu et al. 10.1016/j.measurement.2024.116561
- Skill of isotope-enabled climate models for daily surface water vapour in East Asia S. Wang et al. 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2024.104502
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- One-year continuous observations of near-surface atmospheric water vapor stable isotopes at Matara, Sri Lanka, reveal a strong link to moisture sources and convective intensity Y. Wu et al. 10.5194/acp-25-4013-2025
- Water vapour isotopes over West Africa as observed from space: which processes control tropospheric H2O ∕ HDO pair distributions? C. Diekmann et al. 10.5194/acp-25-5409-2025
- What Controls the Mesoscale Variations in Water Isotopic Composition Within Tropical Cyclones and Squall Lines? Cloud Resolving Model Simulations in Radiative‐Convective Equilibrium C. Risi et al. 10.1029/2022MS003331
- Stable isotopes in atmospheric water vapour: Patterns, mechanisms and perspectives B. Shang et al. 10.1007/s11430-023-1410-6
- Water isotopic characterisation of the cloud–circulation coupling in the North Atlantic trades – Part 1: A process-oriented evaluation of COSMOiso simulations with EUREC4A observations L. Villiger et al. 10.5194/acp-23-14643-2023
- Moisture sources and isotopic composition of the 2020 extraordinary and persistent Meiyu rainfall in the Yangtze River valley modulated by large-scale circulations X. Li et al. 10.1016/j.atmosres.2023.107114
- Disentangling the impact of air–sea interaction and boundary layer cloud formation on stable water isotope signals in the warm sector of a Southern Ocean cyclone I. Thurnherr & F. Aemisegger 10.5194/acp-22-10353-2022
1 citations as recorded by crossref.
Latest update: 30 Jun 2025
Executive editor
Tropical convective clouds distribute water vapour across the tropical tropopause layer (TTL), which affects the radiative budget in both the troposphere below and the stratosphere above. Water isotopes can be used as tracers to conclude on the history of water vapour in these altitudes, i.e. whether it went through phase change processes and was part of ice or liquid clouds before. de Vries and coworkers used an innovative modelling scheme capable of simulating convection together with the phase-change processes producing the isotopic signatures to simulate tropical ice clouds and compare their simulations to respective observations. By this, they were able to disentangle processes of convective updraft versus cirrus cloud formation in tropical cloud systems and demonstrate how the isotopic fractionation of water vapour does help to distinguish respective processes. Over all, this paper is innovative and a considerable step forward in studies of convection and transport of water vapour into the upper tropospher/lower startosphere (UTLS).
Tropical convective clouds distribute water vapour across the tropical tropopause layer (TTL),...
Short summary
The Earth's water cycle contains the common H2O molecule but also the less abundant, heavier HDO. We use their different physical properties to study tropical ice clouds in model simulations of the West African monsoon. Isotope signals reveal different processes through which ice clouds form and decay in deep-convective and widespread cirrus. Previously observed variations in upper-tropospheric vapour isotopes are explained by microphysical processes in convective updraughts and downdraughts.
The Earth's water cycle contains the common H2O molecule but also the less abundant, heavier...
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