EAGER: Collaborative Research: A Critical Examination on the Climatic and Environmental Factors Controlling the H isotopic Fractionation Between Plant Leaf Waxes and Precipitation

智力优势：降水同位素比率可以说是定量重建大陆古气候的最佳替代指标。传统的档案、冰芯和洞穴在空间上受到限制。植物叶蜡的DD值代表了一个潜在的强大和广泛适用的指标。然而，在不同的气候和环境条件下，叶蜡和降水之间的氢同位素分馏存在很大的不确定性。有几项研究试图从湖面沉积物，甚至直接从植物叶子中获取平均蜡磷的值，但只取得了有限的成功。我们建议从不同生态系统的现代气溶胶样品中确定叶蜡的DD值。气溶胶中的叶蜡整合了高等植物的当前产量，使我们能够在特定环境设置下准确定义整个季节周期的蜡值。对于拟议的EIGER项目，我们打算研究两个气候不同的地点(美国的亚利桑那州和佐治亚州)，以证明拟议方法的可行性。如果成功，我们打算研究不同植被和气候梯度的全球地点分类。更广泛的影响：拟议的工作将在两个高度反差的气候和环境背景下产生现代植物叶蜡和降雨量之间最准确的表观氢同位素分馏值，并将为未来更全面的研究铺平道路。这一结果为将叶蜡氢同位素数据定量转换为古气候记录奠定了基础。这项研究将促进多学科合作(有机/同位素地球化学和大气科学)，并允许对研究生和本科生进行跨学科培训。这些结果在古气候学、地球科学和生物学中的稳定同位素、有机地球化学等方面都有广泛的影响。

Intellectual merit: Precipitation isotopic ratio is arguably the best proxy for quantitative continental paleoclimate reconstructions. Traditional archives, ice cores and speleothems, are spatially restricted. dD values of plant leaf waxes represent a potentially powerful and widely applicable proxy. However, there is major uncertainty in the hydrogen isotopic fractionation between leaf waxes and precipitation (åwax-p) under different climatic and environmental conditions. Several studies have attempted to obtain the mean åwax-p values from lake surface sediments, or even directly from plant leaves, but with only limited success. We propose to determine the dD values of leaf waxes from modern aerosol samples from contrasting ecosystems. Leaf waxes in aerosols integrate current production from higher plants, allowing us to accurately define the åwax-p values throughout the seasonal cycle under specific environmental settings. For the proposed EAGER project, we intend to study two climatically distinct sites (Arizona and Georgia in the US), in order to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed approach. If successful, we intend to study a global assortment of sites across vegetation and climate gradients. Broader impacts: The proposed work will generate the most accurate values of the apparent hydrogen isotopic fractionation (åwax-p) between modern plant leaf waxes and rainfall in the two highly contrasting climatic and environmental settings, and will pave the way for more comprehensive studies in the future. The results are fundamental for quantitative translation of leaf wax hydrogen isotopic data into paleoclimatic records. This study will promote multidisciplinary collaborations (organic/isotopic geochemistry and atmospheric science), and allow cross-disciplinary training of graduate and undergraduate students. The results have broad impacts in paleoclimatology, stable isotopes in earth science and biology, organic geochemistry.