Abstract
Oxygen isotope ratios (\(^{18}\hbox {O}/^{16}\hbox {O}\)) of surface seawater and rainwater samples from the Indian Ocean region (10°N–60°S) during austral summer collected onboard ORV Sagar Nidhi during 2011–2013 have been measured along with salinity, sea surface temperature and relative humidity. The rainwater is isotopically lighter (by \(4.6\pm 2.7\permille )\) compared to the equilibrium condensation of the vapour arising from the seawater at the ambient condition. The isotopic composition of the vapour at high altitude responsible for the rain formation at the sampling location is estimated from a global atmospheric water isotope model (IsoGSM2). The apparent deficit of \(\sim \)5\(\permille \) can be explained by invoking a high degree of rainout (on average, about 70% of the overhead atmospheric moisture) during transport of the source vapour to the sampling location undergoing a Rayleigh fractionation. The required rainout fraction is higher (\(\sim \)80%) in the latitude belt 40°–60°S compared to the equatorial belt (\(\sim \)60%). The pattern of variation in the rainout fraction with latitude is consistent with the well-known evaporation/precipitation processes in the Indian Ocean.
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Acknowledgements
Author PK is grateful to Prof. Sunil Bajpai, Director BSIP for providing all necessary facilities and permission to publish the manuscript. All the authors thank Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India for providing financial support and crews of ORV Sagar Nidhi for onboard help. Authors PK, RP, PG and SKB thank Divecha Centre for Climate Change, IISc Bangalore for support. We note that there are no data sharing issues since all of the numerical information is provided in figures and tables in the paper.
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Prasanna, K., Ghosh, P., Bhattacharya, S.K. et al. Moisture rainout fraction over the Indian Ocean during austral summer based on \(^{18}\hbox {O}/{}^{16}\hbox {O}\) ratios of surface seawater, rainwater at latitude range of 10°N–60°S. J Earth Syst Sci 127, 60 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-018-0960-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-018-0960-1