Moisture transformation in Arctic warm airmass intrusions: process
attribution with stable water isotopes
Abstract
Warm airmass intrusions (WAIs) from the mid-latitudes significantly
impact the Arctic water budget. Here, we combine water vapor isotopes
measurements from the MOSAiC expedition, with a Lagrangian-based process
attribution diagnostic to track moisture origin and transformation in
the central Arctic Ocean during two WAIs, under contrasting sea-ice
concentrations (SIC). During winter with high SIC, two moisture states
emerge: the local in-Arctic moisture, for which the isotope signal is
influenced by kinetic processes in ice-cloud formation, is rapidly
overprinted by low-latitude moisture advected poleward during WAI. In
summer under low SIC, moisture is supplied through evaporation from land
and ocean, with moisture distillation via liquid-cloud formation. The
isotopic composition reflects the influence of higher humidity at the
evaporation sites. Given the projected increase of frequency and
duration of WAIs, our study contributes to assess process changes in the
Arctic water cycle.