17 O-excess in tropical cyclones reflects local rain re-evaporation more than moisture source conditions
Sun, C., Shanahan, T., He, S., Bailey, A., Nusbaumer, J., et al. (2024). 17 O-excess in tropical cyclones reflects local rain re-evaporation more than moisture source conditions. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, doi:https://doi.org/10.1029/2023JD039361
| Title | 17 O-excess in tropical cyclones reflects local rain re-evaporation more than moisture source conditions |
|---|---|
| Genre | Article |
| Author(s) | Chijun Sun, T. Shanahan, S. He, Adriana Bailey, Jesse Nusbaumer, J. Hu, A. Hillman, E. Ornouski, J. Warner, K. DeLong |
| Abstract | O-17-excess is a relatively new water isotope parameter that could potentially provide useful information about the hydrological cycle. Previous works focusing on O-17-excess in polar regions suggest that it primarily tracks moisture source relative humidity, but little is known about how to interpret O-17-excess data in lower latitudes. Here we present quasi-hourly triple oxygen isotope data of precipitation collected from two tropical cyclones in Texas and Louisiana in 2020 to understand the impacts of environmental and meteorological processes on the(17)O-excess of low-to mid-latitude precipitation. We find that at both hourly time scales and the event scale,O-17-excess is strongly correlated to changes in on-site rainfall intensity and relative humidity, which is consistent with the theory that the isotopic fraction at ion associated with rain re-evaporation lowers the(17)O-excess of the remaining droplet. In addition, although evaporative conditions at the moisture source region may also influence( 17)O-excess of water vapor transported to the precipitation site, their impacts are likely over printed by the post-condensation rain re-evaporation processes. Our results thus suggest that O-17-excess can be used as a proxy for local rather than source region evaporative conditions during tropical cyclones. |
| Publication Title | Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres |
| Publication Date | Mar 28, 2024 |
| Publisher's Version of Record | https://doi.org/10.1029/2023JD039361 |
| OpenSky Citable URL | https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7df6wc9 |
| OpenSky Listing | View on OpenSky |
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