This study presents a large and unique dataset of the rainfall isotopic composition in seven sites from northern Iberia to characterize their variability at daily and monthly time scales and to assess the role of climate and geographic factors on the modulation of d18O values and ranges. We found that the type of precipitation (convective vs frontal rainfall) plays a key control. These results will help to improve the interpretation of d18O paleorecords from lacustrine carbonates or speleothems.
This study presents a large and unique dataset of the rainfall isotopic composition in seven...
1Department of Geoenvironmental Processes and Global Change, Pyrenean Institute of Ecology – CSIC, Avda. Montañana 1005, 50059 Zaragoza, Spain
2Department of Geology, University of Oviedo, C/Arias de Velasco, s/nº 33005 Oviedo, Spain
3Centro de Investigaciones sobre Desertificación, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CIDE-CSIC), Moncada 46113, Valencia, Spain
4Institute of Global Environmental Change, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, 710049, China
5Earth Sciences Department, University of Zaragoza, C/Pedro Cerbuna 12, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain
6Departamento de Geología. Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales – CSIC, C/José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, 28006, Madrid, Spain
7Geological Institute, NO G59, Department of Earth Sciences, Sonneggstrasse 5, ETH, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
8CRG Marine Geosciences, Department de Dinàmica de la Terra i l’Oceà, Facultat de Ciències de la Terra, Universitat de Barcelona, C/Martí i Franqués, s/nº, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
9Stable Isotope Biogeochemistry Laboratory, IACT-CSIC, Avda. de Las Palmeras nº 4, 18100, Armilla (Granada), Spain
10Group of Meteorology, Department of Applied Physics, Faculty of Physics, University of Barcelona, Martí i Franqués, 1, 2008028 Barcelona, Spain
11HydroSciencesMontpellier (HSM), UMR 5569 (UM, CNRS, IRD), 34095 Montpellier, France
12Institut Pierre Simon Laplace (IPSL), Laboratoire des Sciences de Climat et de l'Environnement (LSCE), UMR 8212 (CEA, CNRS, UVSQ), 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
deceased, February 2019
1Department of Geoenvironmental Processes and Global Change, Pyrenean Institute of Ecology – CSIC, Avda. Montañana 1005, 50059 Zaragoza, Spain
2Department of Geology, University of Oviedo, C/Arias de Velasco, s/nº 33005 Oviedo, Spain
3Centro de Investigaciones sobre Desertificación, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CIDE-CSIC), Moncada 46113, Valencia, Spain
4Institute of Global Environmental Change, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, 710049, China
5Earth Sciences Department, University of Zaragoza, C/Pedro Cerbuna 12, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain
6Departamento de Geología. Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales – CSIC, C/José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, 28006, Madrid, Spain
7Geological Institute, NO G59, Department of Earth Sciences, Sonneggstrasse 5, ETH, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
8CRG Marine Geosciences, Department de Dinàmica de la Terra i l’Oceà, Facultat de Ciències de la Terra, Universitat de Barcelona, C/Martí i Franqués, s/nº, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
9Stable Isotope Biogeochemistry Laboratory, IACT-CSIC, Avda. de Las Palmeras nº 4, 18100, Armilla (Granada), Spain
10Group of Meteorology, Department of Applied Physics, Faculty of Physics, University of Barcelona, Martí i Franqués, 1, 2008028 Barcelona, Spain
11HydroSciencesMontpellier (HSM), UMR 5569 (UM, CNRS, IRD), 34095 Montpellier, France
12Institut Pierre Simon Laplace (IPSL), Laboratoire des Sciences de Climat et de l'Environnement (LSCE), UMR 8212 (CEA, CNRS, UVSQ), 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
Received: 17 Aug 2020 – Accepted for review: 03 Sep 2020 – Discussion started: 08 Sep 2020
Abstract. This article presents for the first time a large dataset of rainfall isotopic measurements (d18Op and d2Hp) sampled every day or every two days from seven sites in a west-to-east transect across northern Spain for 2010–2017. The main aim of this study is to: (1) characterize rainfall isotopic variability in northern Spain at daily and monthly time scales, and (2) assess the principal influencing factors determining rainfall isotopic variability. This comprehensive spatio-temporal approach allows exploring the role of air mass source in determining the isotopic composition of rainfall in northern Iberia by using back-trajectories; Atlantic fronts are found to be the dominant source of northern Iberia rain events studied. The relative role of air temperature and rainfall amount in determining the stable isotope composition of precipitation changes along the west-to-east transect. Air temperature appears to be the most significant influence on d18Op at daily and monthly time scales with the highest air temperature-d18Op dependency found for the Pyrenean station while a few sites in the transect show a significant negative correlation with precipitation amount. Distance from the coast, site elevation, and moisture source region (Atlantic versus Mediterranean) also significantly modulate the d18Op values and ranges but the type of precipitation (convective vs frontal rainfall) plays a key control, with convective rainfall associated with higher d18Op values. This dataset of the rainfall isotopic composition represents another step forward towards developing a more detailed, mechanistic framework for interpreting stable isotopes in rainfall as a palaeoclimate and hydrological tracer.
This study presents a large and unique dataset of the rainfall isotopic composition in seven sites from northern Iberia to characterize their variability at daily and monthly time scales and to assess the role of climate and geographic factors on the modulation of d18O values and ranges. We found that the type of precipitation (convective vs frontal rainfall) plays a key control. These results will help to improve the interpretation of d18O paleorecords from lacustrine carbonates or speleothems.
This study presents a large and unique dataset of the rainfall isotopic composition in seven...
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