Earth’s Cryosphere, 2017, Vol. XXI, No. 2, p. 52-61
ISOTOPIC COMPOSITION AND SOURCES OF ATMOSPHERIC PRECIPITATION IN CENTRAL YAKUTIA
T.S. Papina1, N.S. Malygina1, A.N. Eirikh1, A.A. Galanin2, M.N. Zheleznyak2
1Institute for Water and Environmental Problems, SB RAS,
1, Molodezhnaya str., Barnaul, 656038, Russia; tanya.papina@mail.ru
2Melnikov Permafrost Institute, SB RAS, 36, Merzlotnaya str., Yakutsk, 677010, Russia
The data on the isotopic composition of precipitation sampled during the cold period of 2013–2014 and the warm period of 2014 in Central Yakutia have been presented. The isotopic composition of precipitation of the cold period has been revealed to be essentially dependent on the air temperature, and the angle of inclination of the local meteoric water line (slightly greater than the global meteoric water line angle) and deuterium excess (above 10 ‰) have confirmed the cryogenic fractionation of precipitation. The situation for the warm period has been demonstrated to differ: independence on the ambient temperature, the angle of less than 8 degrees and negative deuterium excess collectively suggest the possibility of evaporative fractionation and changes in the precipitation sources. Based on the method of analysis of the reverse trajectories of air masses (model HYSPLIT) and the isotopic composition of precipitation, seven regions have been identified as sources of the atmospheric moisture which precipitated in Central Yakutia during the analyzed period. It has been demonstrated that in the warm season the Sea of Okhotsk is the dominant source of precipitation in Central Yakutia; its contribution has been estimated as 41.1 % of the total rainfall of the warm season of 2014.
Central Yakutia, precipitation of warm and cold periods, oxygen and hydrogen isotopes, deuterium excess