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Stable isotopes in atmospheric water vapor and applications to the hydrologic cycle

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TLDR
Improved measurement and modeling of water vapor isotopic composition opens the door to new advances in the understanding of the atmospheric water cycle, in processes ranging from the marine boundary layer, through deep convection and tropospheric mixing, and into the water cycle of the stratosphere.
Abstract
The measurement and simulation of water vapor isotopic composition has matured rapidly over the last decade, with long-term datasets and comprehensive modeling capabilities now available. Theories for water vapor isotopic composition have been developed by extending the theories that have been used for the isotopic composition of precipitation to include a more nuanced understanding of evaporation, large-scale mixing, deep convection, and kinetic fractionation. The technologies for in-situ and remote sensing measurements of water vapor isotopic composition have developed especially rapidly over the last decade, with discrete water vapor sampling methods, based on mass spectroscopy, giving way to laser spectroscopic methods and satellite- and ground-based infrared absorption techniques. The simulation of water vapor isotopic composition has evolved from General Circulation Model (GCM) methods for simulating precipitation isotopic composition to sophisticated isotope-enabled microphysics schemes using higher-order moments for water- and ice-size distributions. The incorporation of isotopes into GCMs has enabled more detailed diagnostics of the water cycle and has led to improvements in its simulation. The combination of improved measurement and modeling of water vapor isotopic composition opens the door to new advances in our understanding of the atmospheric water cycle, in processes ranging from the marine boundary layer, through deep convection and tropospheric mixing, and into the water cycle of the stratosphere. Finally, studies of the processes governing modern water vapor isotopic composition provide an improved framework for the interpretation of paleoclimate proxy records of the hydrological cycle.

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CORRIGENDUM of the MJO Transition from Shallow to Deep Convection in Cloudsat-Calipso Data and GISS GCM Simulations

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Overview of the MOSAiC expedition—Atmosphere

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- 01 Jan 2022 - 
TL;DR: The MOSAiC program as mentioned in this paper was organized into four subgroups: atmospheric state, clouds and precipitation, gases and aerosols, and energy budgets, using a variety of approaches, and across multiple scales.
Journal ArticleDOI

Understanding snow hydrological processes through the lens of stable water isotopes

TL;DR: In this article, a review summarizes the state of knowledge of how different hydro-meteorological processes affect the isotopic composition of snow, and, through selected examples, discusses how stable water isotopes can provide a better understanding of snow hydrological processes.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI

Regional downscaling for stable water isotopes: A case study of an atmospheric river event

TL;DR: In this article, an isotope-incorporated regional model is developed and utilized for simulations of an atmospheric river event that occurred in March 2005, and a set of sensitivity experiments and comparisons with observations confirm that the kinetic isotopic exchange between falling droplets and ambient water vapor below the cloud base was mostly responsible for the initial enrichment and subsequent rapid drop of the deuterium abundance in precipitation observed during the event.
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Air Parcel Trajectories and Snowfall Related to Five Deep Drilling Locations in Antarctica Based on the ERA-15 Dataset*

TL;DR: In this article, five-day backward air parcel trajectories are used to define potential moisture sources of snow falling at five Antarctic deep drilling locations: Byrd, DML05, Dome C, Dome F, and Vostok.
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A new cavity based absorption instrument for detection of water isotopologues in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere.

TL;DR: The Harvard integrated cavity output spectroscopy (ICOS) isotope instrument is described, a mid-IR infrared spectrometer using ICOS to make in situ measurements of the primary isotopologues of water vapor in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere and to date has flown successfully in four field campaigns.
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A moisture budget perspective of the amount effect

TL;DR: In this article, a stable water isotopologue-enabled cloud-resolving model was used to investigate the cause of the amount effect on the seasonal (or longer) time scales.
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