Stable water isotope characterization of human and natural impacts on land-atmosphere exchanges in the Amazon Basin

McGuffie, K; Henderson-Sellers, A

Stable water isotope characterization of human and natural impacts on land-atmosphere exchanges in the Amazon Basin

McGuffie, K Henderson-Sellers, A

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Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Journal of Geophysical Research D: Atmospheres, 2004, 109 (17)
Issue Date:: 2004-09-16

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	McGuffie, K	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Henderson-Sellers, A	en_US
dc.date.issued	2004-09-16	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Journal of Geophysical Research D: Atmospheres, 2004, 109 (17)	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	0148-0227	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/654
dc.description.abstract	Stable water isotopes have been employed as a means of challenging, validating, and improving numerical models of the Amazon Basin since the 1980s. This paper serves as an exemplar of how characterization of human and natural impacts on surface-atmosphere water exchanges could beneficially exploit stable water isotope data and simulations. Interpretations of Amazonian isotopic data and model simulations are found to be seriously hampered by (1) poor simulation of the gross water budget (e.g., lack of surface water conservation in models); (2) considerable model differences in the fate of precipitation (i.e., between reevaporation and runoff); (3) wide ranging characterization of natural causes of water isotopic fluctuations (especially El Niño and La Niña events); (4) isotopic land-atmosphere flux sensitivity to the prescription of boundary layer atmospheric water vapor isotopic depletion; and (5) significantly different characterization by current land-surface schemes of the partition of evaporation between isotopically fractionating (from lakes and rivers) and nonfractionating (transpiration) processes. Despite these obstacles, we find features in the recent isotopic record that might be derived from circulation and land-use changes. ENSO events may cause decreased depletion in the dry season, because of reduced convective precipitation, while increases in upper basin isotope depletions in the wet season may result from relatively less nonfractionating recycling because there are fewer trees. The promise for isotopic fingerprinting of near-surface continental water cycle changes depends upon fixing shortcomings in current atmospheric and land-surface models. Copyright 2004 by the American Geophysical Union.	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Journal of Geophysical Research D: Atmospheres	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1029/2003JD004388	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences	en_US
dc.title	Stable water isotope characterization of human and natural impacts on land-atmosphere exchanges in the Amazon Basin	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	17	en_US
utslib.citation.volume	109	en_US
utslib.for	0909 Geomatic Engineering	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Science
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Science/School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences
utslib.copyright.status	open_access
pubs.issue	17	en_US
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US
pubs.volume	109	en_US

Abstract:

Stable water isotopes have been employed as a means of challenging, validating, and improving numerical models of the Amazon Basin since the 1980s. This paper serves as an exemplar of how characterization of human and natural impacts on surface-atmosphere water exchanges could beneficially exploit stable water isotope data and simulations. Interpretations of Amazonian isotopic data and model simulations are found to be seriously hampered by (1) poor simulation of the gross water budget (e.g., lack of surface water conservation in models); (2) considerable model differences in the fate of precipitation (i.e., between reevaporation and runoff); (3) wide ranging characterization of natural causes of water isotopic fluctuations (especially El Niño and La Niña events); (4) isotopic land-atmosphere flux sensitivity to the prescription of boundary layer atmospheric water vapor isotopic depletion; and (5) significantly different characterization by current land-surface schemes of the partition of evaporation between isotopically fractionating (from lakes and rivers) and nonfractionating (transpiration) processes. Despite these obstacles, we find features in the recent isotopic record that might be derived from circulation and land-use changes. ENSO events may cause decreased depletion in the dry season, because of reduced convective precipitation, while increases in upper basin isotope depletions in the wet season may result from relatively less nonfractionating recycling because there are fewer trees. The promise for isotopic fingerprinting of near-surface continental water cycle changes depends upon fixing shortcomings in current atmospheric and land-surface models. Copyright 2004 by the American Geophysical Union.

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