lmd_Risi2015_abstracts.html

2015 .

J.-L. Bonne, H. C. Steen-Larsen, C. Risi, M. Werner, H. Sodemann, J.-L. Lacour, X. Fettweis, G. Cesana, M. Delmotte, O. Cattani, P. Vallelonga, H. A. Kjær, C. Clerbaux, Á. E. Sveinbjörnsdóttir, and V. Masson-Delmotte. The summer 2012 Greenland heat wave: In situ and remote sensing observations of water vapor isotopic composition during an atmospheric river event. Journal of Geophysical Research (Atmospheres), 120:2970-2989, April 2015. [ bib | DOI | ADS link ]

During 7-12 July 2012, extreme moist and warm conditions occurred over Greenland, leading to widespread surface melt. To investigate the physical processes during the atmospheric moisture transport of this event, we study the water vapor isotopic composition using surface in situ observations in Bermuda Island, South Greenland coast (Ivittuut), and northwest Greenland ice sheet (NEEM), as well as remote sensing observations (Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) instrument on board MetOp-A), depicting propagation of similar surface and midtropospheric humidity and δD signals. Simulations using Lagrangian moisture source diagnostic and water tagging in a regional model showed that Greenland was affected by an atmospheric river transporting moisture from the western subtropical North Atlantic Ocean, which is coherent with observations of snow pit impurities deposited at NEEM. At Ivittuut, surface air temperature, humidity, and δD increases are observed. At NEEM, similar temperature increase is associated with a large and long-lasting 100δD enrichment and 15 deuterium excess decrease, thereby reaching Ivittuut level. We assess the simulation of this event in two isotope-enabled atmospheric general circulation models (LMDz-iso and ECHAM5-wiso). LMDz-iso correctly captures the timing of propagation for this event identified in IASI data but depict too gradual variations when compared to surface data. Both models reproduce the surface meteorological and isotopic values during the event but underestimate the background deuterium excess at NEEM. Cloud liquid water content parametrization in LMDz-iso poorly impacts the vapor isotopic composition. Our data demonstrate that during this atmospheric river event the deuterium excess signal is conserved from the moisture source to northwest Greenland.

J. Gao, C. Risi, V. Masson-Delmotte, Y. He, and B. Xu. Southern Tibetan Plateau ice core δ¹⁸O reflects abrupt shifts in atmospheric circulation in the late 1970s. Climate Dynamics, April 2015. [ bib | DOI | ADS link ]

Ice cores from the Tibetan Plateau provide high-resolution records of changes in the snow and ice isotopic composition. In the monsoon sector of southern Tibetan Plateau, their climatic interpretation has been controversial. Here, we present a new high-resolution δ¹⁸O record obtained from 2206 measurements performed at 2-3 cm depth resolution along a 55.1 m depth ice core retrieved from the Noijinkansang glacier (NK, 5950 m a.s.l.) that spans the period from 1864 to 2006 AD. The data are characterized by high δ¹⁸O values in the nineteenth century, 1910s and 1960s, followed by a drop in the late 1970s and a recent increasing trend. The comparison with regional meteorological data and with a simulation performed with the LMDZiso general circulation model leads to the attribution of the abrupt shift in the late 1970s predominantly to changes in regional atmospheric circulation, together with the impact of atmospheric temperature change. Correlation analyses suggest that the large-scale modes of variability (PDO and ENSO, i.e. Pacific Decadal Oscillation and El Nino-Southern Oscillation) play important roles in modulating NK δ¹⁸O changes. The NK δ¹⁸O minimum at the end of the 1970s coincides with a PDO phase shift, an inflexion point of the zonal index (representing the overall intensity of the surface westerly anomalies over middle latitudes) as well as ENSO, implying interdecadal modulation of the influence of the PDO/ENSO on the Indian monsoon on southern TP precipitation δ¹⁸O. While convective activity above North India controls the intra-seasonal variability of precipitation δ¹⁸O in southern TP, other processes associated with changes in large-scale atmospheric circulation act at the inter-annual scale.

M. Benetti, G. Aloisi, G. Reverdin, C. Risi, and G. Sèze. Importance of boundary layer mixing for the isotopic composition of surface vapor over the subtropical North Atlantic Ocean. Journal of Geophysical Research (Atmospheres), 120:2190-2209, March 2015. [ bib | DOI | ADS link ]

During the summer 2012, we carried out continuous measurements of the isotopic composition (δ) of water vapor over the near-surface subtropical North Atlantic Ocean (STRASSE cruise). In this region of excess evaporation, we investigate the control of evaporation and mixing with a lower troposphere-derived, isotopically depleted air mass on the near-surface δ. We use a simple model to simulate the near-surface δ as the result of a two end-member mixing of the evaporative flux with free tropospheric air. The evaporative flux δ was estimated by the Craig and Gordon equation while the δ of the lower troposphere was taken from the LMDZ-iso global atmospheric circulation model. This simulation considers instantaneous mixing of lower tropospheric air with the evaporated flux and neglects lateral advection. Despite these simplifications, the simulations allow to identify the controls on the near-surface δ. The d-excess variability is largely a consequence of varying kinetic effects during evaporation, even during a convection event when the input of tropospheric vapor was strong. Kinetic effects and mixing processes affect simultaneously the near-surface δ and result in the vapor occupying distinct domains in the δ¹⁸O-δD space. The relative humidity-d-excess relationship shows that the closure assumption overestimates the d-excess variability at short time scales (less than a day). We interpret this as due to an effect of the residence time of the near-surface water vapor on the d-excess. Finally, we highlight the importance of reproducing mixing processes in models simulating isotopes over the subtropical North Atlantic Ocean and propose an extension of the closure assumption for use in initial conditions of distillation calculations.

H. Pang, S. Hou, A. Landais, V. Masson-Delmotte, F. Prie, H. C. Steen-Larsen, C. Risi, Y. Li, J. Jouzel, Y. Wang, J. He, B. Minster, and S. Falourd. Spatial distribution of ¹⁷O-excess in surface snow along a traverse from Zhongshan station to Dome A, East Antarctica. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 414:126-133, March 2015. [ bib | DOI | ADS link ]

The influence of temperature on the triple isotopic composition of oxygen in water is still an open question and limits the interpretation of water isotopic profiles in Antarctic ice cores. The main limitation arises from the lack of ¹⁷O-excess measurements in surface snow and especially for remote regions characterized by low temperature and accumulation rate. In this study, we present new ¹⁷O-excess measurements of surface snow along an East Antarctic traverse, from the coastal Zhongshan station to the highest point of the Antarctic ice sheet at Dome A. The ¹⁷O-excess data significantly decrease inland, with a latitudinal gradient of - 1.33 0.41 per meg/degree, an altitudinal gradient of - 0.48 0.17 permeg / 100 m, and a temperature gradient of 0.35 0.11 permeg /degC. Theoretical calculations performed using a Rayleigh model attribute this inland decrease to kinetic isotopic fractionation occurring during condensation from vapor to ice under supersaturation conditions at low temperatures. However, large heterogeneity of ¹⁷O-excess in Antarctic precipitation cannot only be explained by temperature at condensation and/or influences of relative humidity in the moisture source region.

J.-L. Lacour, L. Clarisse, J. Worden, M. Schneider, S. Barthlott, F. Hase, C. Risi, C. Clerbaux, D. Hurtmans, and P.-F. Coheur. Cross-validation of IASI/MetOp derived tropospheric δD with TES and ground-based FTIR observations. Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, 8:1447-1466, March 2015. [ bib | DOI | ADS link ]

The Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) flying onboard MetOpA and MetOpB is able to capture fine isotopic variations of the HDO to H₂O ratio (δD) in the troposphere. Such observations at the high spatio-temporal resolution of the sounder are of great interest to improve our understanding of the mechanisms controlling humidity in the troposphere. In this study we aim to empirically assess the validity of our error estimation previously evaluated theoretically. To achieve this, we compare IASI δD retrieved profiles with other available profiles of δD, from the TES infrared sounder onboard AURA and from three ground-based FTIR stations produced within the MUSICA project: the NDACC (Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change) sites Kiruna and Izaña, and the TCCON site Karlsruhe, which in addition to near-infrared TCCON spectra also records mid-infrared spectra. We describe the achievable level of agreement between the different retrievals and show that these theoretical errors are in good agreement with empirical differences. The comparisons are made at different locations from tropical to Arctic latitudes, above sea and above land. Generally IASI and TES are similarly sensitive to δD in the free troposphere which allows one to compare their measurements directly. At tropical latitudes where IASI's sensitivity is lower than that of TES, we show that the agreement improves when taking into account the sensitivity of IASI in the TES retrieval. For the comparison IASI-FTIR only direct comparisons are performed because the sensitivity profiles of the two observing systems do not allow to take into account their differences of sensitivity. We identify a quasi negligible bias in the free troposphere (-3) between IASI retrieved δD with the TES, which are bias corrected, but important with the ground-based FTIR reaching -47. We also suggest that model-satellite observation comparisons could be optimized with IASI thanks to its high spatial and temporal sampling.