δ 2 H and δ 18 O in Precipitation and Water Vapor Disentangle Seasonal Wind Directions on the Loess Plateau

Fu-Qiang Huang, Jian-Zhou Wei, Xin Song, Yong-Hong Zhang, Qi-Feng Yang, Yakov Kuzyakov and Feng-Min Li
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Fu-Qiang Huang: State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agroecosystems, Institute of Arid Agroecology, School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, No. 222, South Tianshui Road, Lanzhou 730000, China
Jian-Zhou Wei: Centre for Quantitative Biology, College of Science, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou 730070, China
Xin Song: State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agroecosystems, Institute of Arid Agroecology, School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, No. 222, South Tianshui Road, Lanzhou 730000, China
Yong-Hong Zhang: State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agroecosystems, Institute of Arid Agroecology, School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, No. 222, South Tianshui Road, Lanzhou 730000, China
Qi-Feng Yang: State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agroecosystems, Institute of Arid Agroecology, School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, No. 222, South Tianshui Road, Lanzhou 730000, China
Yakov Kuzyakov: Department of Soil Science of Temperate Ecosystems, Department of Agricultural Soil Science, University of Göttingen, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
Feng-Min Li: State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agroecosystems, Institute of Arid Agroecology, School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, No. 222, South Tianshui Road, Lanzhou 730000, China

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 12, 1-15

Abstract: In many areas of the Loess Plateau, groundwater is too deep to extract, making meteoric water (snow and rain) the only viable water resource. Here we traced the rainwater and water vapor sources using the δ 2 H and δ 18 O signature of precipitation in the northern mountainous region of Yuzhong on the Loess Plateau. The local meteoric water line in 2016 and 2017 was defined as δ 2 H = 6.8 (±0.3)∙δ 18 O + 4.4 (±2.0) and δ 2 H = 7.1 (±0.2)∙δ 18 O + 1.5 (±1.6), respectively. The temperature and precipitation amount are considered to be the main factor controlling the δ 2 H and δ 18 O variation of precipitation, and consequently, relationships were first explored between δ 18 O and local surface air temperature and precipitation amount by linear regression analysis. The temperature effect was significant in the wet seasons but was irrelevant in the dry seasons on daily and seasonal scales. The amount effect was significant in the wet seasons on a daily scale but irrelevant in the dry seasons. However, based on the data of the Global Network of Isotopes in Precipitation (GNIP) (1985–1987, 1996–1999) of Lanzhou weather station, the amount effects were absent at seasonal scales and were not useful to discriminate either wetter or drier seasons or even wetter or drier decades. Over the whole year, the resulting air mass trajectories were consistent with the main sources of water vapor were from the Atlantic Ocean via westerlies and from the Arctic region, with 46%, 64%, and 40% of water vapor coming from the westerlies, and 54%, 36%, and 60% water vapor from the north in spring, autumn and winter, respectively. In the summer, however, the southeast monsoon (21%) was also an important water vapor source in the Loess Plateau. Concluding, using the δ 2 H and δ 18 O signatures of precipitation water, we disentangled and quantified the seasonal wind directions that are important for the prediction of water resources for local and regional land use.

Keywords: isotopic approaches; δ 2 H and δ 18 O of precipitation; water vapor sources; Loess Plateau (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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