Tracing atmospheric moisture from precipitation δ18O to climate proxy using an isotope enabled land surface model
Abstract
A paleoclimate interpretation of a terrestrial hydrologic proxy such as the δ18O of tree cellulose or speleothem calcite may be biased or misinterpreted if the isotopic composition of the soil water from which the proxy originated undergoes isotopic exchange or fractionation. In this study, we use a global isotope-enabled land surface model (IsoLSM) to investigate how the δ18O of precipitation may be altered in a soil column due to evaporation and vertical moisture flux. In order to assess how precipitation and evaporation contribute the soil water isotopic variability, we compare seasonal and interannual changes in simulated xylem water δ18O within a control simulation and in a suite of experiments where the effect of precipitation δ18O, water vapor δ18O, and ground water evaporation are independently removed. The simulations, carried out for 1979 to 2004, reveal that in semi-arid regions, such as the southwest United States, the seasonal cycle in xylem water δ18O is strongly affected by evaporative loss during the dry season and this can constitute as much as 50% of the interannual δ18O variance. Additional simulations, including soil water tagging experiments, indicate that upward fluxes of soil water occur during drier periods. For soil water δ18O profiles that are isotopically more depleted in 18O at depth, this imparts a low isotopic signature to xylem water δ18O during such dry intervals. Hence, without taking into account moisture flux processes, an isotopic proxy could be misinterpreted as wet conditions (due to decreased evaporative enrichment) for low δ18O years when instead drier conditions are equally as likely. Using IsoLSM simulated xylem water and leaf water δ18O, offline calculations of cellulose δ18O compare well with observations in diverse climatic regimes. Thus, the driving mechanisms on soil water δ18O identified in this study, and in particular the important role of evaporation on seasonal and interannual timescales, may complicate interpretations of cellulose δ18O beyond the calibration period.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2013
- Bibcode:
- 2013AGUFMPP23C1989K
- Keywords:
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- 1615 GLOBAL CHANGE Biogeochemical cycles;
- processes;
- and modeling;
- 1655 GLOBAL CHANGE Water cycles;
- 1041 GEOCHEMISTRY Stable isotope geochemistry