delta O-18 water isotope in the iLOVECLIM model (version 1.0) - Part 2: Evaluation of model results against observed delta O-18 in water samples

Type Article
Date 2013
Language English
Author(s) Roche D. M.1, 2, Caley T1
Affiliation(s) 1 : Vrije Univ Amsterdam, Fac Earth & Life Sci, Earth & Climate Cluster, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
2 : CEA CNRS INSU UVSQ, UMR8212, Lab Sci Climat & Environm, Gif Sur Yvette, France.
Source Geoscientific Model Development (1991-959X) (Copernicus Gesellschaft Mbh), 2013 , Vol. 6 , N. 5 , P. 1493-1504
DOI 10.5194/gmd-6-1493-2013
WOS© Times Cited 20
Note Special issues The iLOVECLIM earth system model Editor(s): GMD topical editors | Coordinator: D. M. Roche
Abstract

The (H2O)-O-18 stable isotope was previously introduced in the three coupled components of the earth system model iLOVECLIM: atmosphere, ocean and vegetation. The results of a long (5000 yr) pre-industrial equilibrium simulation are presented and evaluated against measurement of (H2O)-O-18 abundance in present-day water for the atmospheric and oceanic components. For the atmosphere, it is found that the model reproduces the observed spatial distribution and relationships to climate variables with some merit, though limitations following our approach are highlighted. Indeed, we obtain the main gradients with a robust representation of the Rayleigh distillation but caveats appear in Antarctica and around the Mediterranean region due to model limitation. For the oceanic component, the agreement between the modelled and observed distribution of water delta O-18 is found to be very good. Mean ocean surface latitudinal gradients are faithfully reproduced as well as the mark of the main intermediate and deep water masses. This opens large prospects for the applications in palaeoclimatic context.

Full Text
File Pages Size Access
Publisher's official version 12 9 MB Open access
Top of the page