Collaborative Research: Isotopic Characteristics of Precipitation Across the United States: Patterns and Processes

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This award provides support for a collaborative study (Universities of Colorado and Wyoming) to analyze the isotopic composition (O and H) of 15 years of samples collected weekly at 80 sites across the United States, samples collected and stored by the National Acid Deposition Program. This new data set will increase the existing database of stable isotopes in precipitation in the U.S. by about a factor of 200, allowing a better characterization of the basic isotope - climate relationships in the U.S. Such information is needed to make better use of paleoenvironmental data such as are found in lake sediments, tree rings and carbonate deposits. The study will examine both the classic isotope - climate relationships such as those with temperature, rainfall amount, continentality and elevation, as well as synoptic scale patterns such as pressure patterns (i.e. ENSO), storm tracks, long wave patterns, and drought and flood patterns.