Study of climatological conditions using isotope signature of air moisture at Roorkee, Uttarakhand, India

Abstract

In the present study, an attempt has been made to correlate the isotopic composition of the air moisture samples collected on daily basis by condensation method over a period of five years (2007-11) with the meteorological parameters. The trend of stable isotopic composition of air moisture for the past 5 years indicates a systematic depletion in isotopic average while the maximum depleted value of air moisture has been found almost same in all the five years which indicates the changing climatological conditions at Roorkee i.e. increased arrival .of oceanic vapours with time. This is a very important phenomenon and need to be understood fully. The isotopic composition of air moisture for the monsoons over a period from 2007 to 2011 shows a systematic depleting trend with an overall depletion by approximately 33‰ for δ18O and 60‰ for δ2H in 5 years. This systematic trend of change in stable isotopic composition indicates towards the change in climatological conditions at Roorkee in recent years which is also seen in other meteorological data. Further, investigations are in progress in this aspect which can contribute to improve the understanding of the isotope-hydrometeorology of India as well as to consider the stable isotopic signatures of air moisture and precipitation as one of the important meteorological parameters because other meteorological parameters only show the change in weather conditions while isotopic signatures also indicate the cause and source.