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Proportions of convective and stratiform precipitation revealed in water isotope ratios

Nature Geoscience volume 9, pages 624–629 (2016)Cite this article

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Abstract

Tropical and midlatitude precipitation is fundamentally of two types, spatially limited and high-intensity convective or widespread and lower-intensity stratiform, owing to differences in vertical air motions and microphysical processes governing rain formation. These processes are difficult to observe or model and precipitation partitioning into rain types is critical for understanding how the water cycle responds to changes in climate. Here, we combine two independent data sets—convective and stratiform precipitation fractions, derived from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite or synoptic cloud observations, and stable isotope and tritium compositions of surface precipitation, derived from a global network—to show that isotope ratios reflect rain type proportions and are negatively correlated with stratiform fractions. Condensation and riming associated with boundary layer moisture produces higher isotope ratios in convective rain, along with higher tritium when riming in deep convection occurs with entrained air at higher altitudes. On the basis of our data, stable isotope ratios can be used to monitor changes in the character of precipitation in response to periodic variability or changes in climate. Our results also provide observational constraints for an improved simulation of convection in climate models and a better understanding of isotope variations in proxy archives, such as speleothems and tropical ice.

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Figure 1: Correlation of mean monthly δ18O, stratiform fraction and precipitation amount in tropical and midlatitude precipitation.
Figure 2: Schematic representation of differences in dynamical and microphysical processes in convective and stratiform precipitation resulting in isotope variations.
Figure 3: Correlation of mean monthly δ18O, stratiform fraction and maximum height of 40-dBZ echo.
Figure 4: Correlation of monthly precipitation tritium (3H) content with stratiform fractions and δ18O.

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Acknowledgements

We thank E. Izewski of IAEA for assistance with graphic illustrations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Isotope Hydrology Section, International Atomic Energy Agency, A1400 Vienna, Austria

    Pradeep K. Aggarwal, Ulrike Romatschke, Luis Araguas-Araguas & Dagnachew Belachew

  2. Department of Earth Sciences, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario N6A 5C2, Canada

    Frederick J. Longstaffe

  3. Hydrology Unit, Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, 6017631 Norrköping, Sweden

    Peter Berg

  4. Department of Atmospheric Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77846, USA

    Courtney Schumacher & Aaron Funk

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  1. Pradeep K. Aggarwal
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Contributions

P.K.A. initiated the project and wrote the paper; U.R., D.B., C.S. and A.F. provided TRMM data; L.A.-A. processed isotope and related data; P.B. contributed cloud-based stratiform fractions; all authors contributed to data evaluation and commented on the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Pradeep K. Aggarwal.

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Aggarwal, P., Romatschke, U., Araguas-Araguas, L. et al. Proportions of convective and stratiform precipitation revealed in water isotope ratios. Nature Geosci 9, 624–629 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2739

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