Journal article
Observation and modeling of stable water isotopes as diagnostics of rainfall dynamics over southeastern Australia
V Barras, I Simmonds
Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres | Published : 2009
DOI: 10.1029/2009JD012132
Abstract
A unified approach of observation and modeling was applied to the investigation of three circulation types that typically bring rain to southeastern Australia. Observations from the Melbourne University Network of Isotopes in Precipitation of high-resolution variations in the ratios of 18O and 2H were collected for (1) mixed frontal, (2) convective, and (3) stratiform precipitation events. Isotopic content of precipitation varied over both high and low frequencies because of influences from local variations in rain intensity and rainout by large-scale precipitation. Deuterium excess showed a weak relationship with rainfall amount on intraevent time scales but was stronger under convective ra..
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Funding Acknowledgements
We are indebted to the efforts of the MUNIP observation team in the accumulation of the observations. Thanks go to David Etheridge, Christen Barras, Lynette Bettio, Pandora Hope, Kevin Keay, Eunpa Lim, Chris Pickett-Heaps, and Richard Wardle. NCAR CAM3 data and much useful advice were kindly provided by David Noone at the University of Colorado. Our thanks also go to Tamie Weaver, Ian Cartwright, and Ben Petrides at Monash University for advice on collection methods and for performing the isotope analyses. This work was supported by funding from the Australian Research Council, a Commonwealth Postgraduate Studentship from CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research, and a research scholarship from the University of Melbourne. The authors would also like to thank three anonymous reviewers for their comments, which greatly improved the manuscript.