Yiyuan Du

and 6 more

Long-term atmospheric water vapor hydrogen (δ2H), oxygen (δ18O), and deuterium excess (d-excess) can provide unique insights into the land-atmosphere coupling processes. The in-situ measurements of atmospheric water vapor δ2H, δ18O, and d-excess were conducted above a reed wetland of Liaodong Bay (2019-2020). We found significant inter-annual variations in atmospheric water vapor isotopes between the two growing (May-September) seasons. The δ2H, δ18O, and d-excess of atmospheric water vapor exhibited different seasonal and diurnal cycles respect to the vertical (i.e., 1 m, 3 m, and 5 m) measurement heights, especially in 2019. The isotopic differences of atmospheric water vapor among vertical measurement heights were more evident in the daytime (8:00-20:00 LST) than at night (20:00-8:00 LST). Rainfall events had a direct impact on the diurnal patterns of water vapor isotopes, and the influences depended on rainfall intensities. However, only week correlations existed between water vapor isotopes and local meteorological factors (R2 = 0.01-0.16, P < 0.001), such as water vapor concentration (w), relative humidity (RH), and surface air temperature (Ta). Based on the back-air trajectory analyses, the spatial-temporal dynamics of atmospheric water vapor isotopes highly synchronized with monsoon activities. The dominant air masses in this region mainly arose from ocean sources, which contributed to 62.1 ± 12.2% (49.4-84.5%) of the total air moisture. High d-excess consistently followed the strong monsoon activities, suggesting predominating impacts of ocean air masses from the East Asian monsoon region. High-resolution measurements of atmospheric water vapor isotopes will improve our understanding of the hydrological cycles in coastal areas.