Laboratory measurements of HDO/H$_{2}$O isotopic fractionation during ice deposition in simulated cirrus clouds

TL;DR

This study provides the first direct measurements of HDO/H2O isotopic fractionation during ice deposition at cirrus cloud temperatures, revealing lower equilibrium fractionation than previously assumed and validating kinetic effects models.

Contribution

It presents novel experimental data on isotopic fractionation at temperatures below 233 K, crucial for understanding cirrus cloud formation and isotopic diagnostics.

Findings

Measured equilibrium fractionation factor is several percent lower than assumed.

Kinetic isotope effects align with existing models.

Results improve interpretation of water isotopic data in atmospheric studies.

Abstract

The stable isotopologues of water have been used in atmospheric and climatic studies for over fifty years, because the temperature-dependent preferential condensation of heavy isotopologues during phase changes makes them useful diagnostics of the hydrological cycle. However, the degree of preferential condensation has never been directly measured at temperatures below 233 K (-40$^{\circ}$C), conditions of cirrus formation in the atmosphere and routinely observed at surface elevation in polar regions. (Models generally assume an extrapolation from the warmer experiments of Merlivat and Nief, 1967.) Non-equilibrium effects that should alter preferential partitioning have also not been well-characterized experimentally (Jouzel and Merlivat 1984). We present here the first direct experimental measurements of the HDO/H$_2$O equilibrium fractionation factor between vapour and ice ($\alpha_{\mathrm {eq}}$) at cirrus-relevant temperatures, and the first quantitative validation of the kinetic modification to equilibrium fractionation expected to occur in supersaturated conditions. In measurements of the evolving isotopic composition of water vapour during cirrus formation experiments in the AIDA chamber, we find $\alpha_{\mathrm{eq}}$ several percent lower than has been assumed. In a subset of diffusion-limited experiments, we show that kinetic isotope effects are compatible with published models (Jouzel and Merlivat 1984, Nelson 2011), including allowing for small surface kinetic effects. These results are significant for the inference of cirrus and convective processes from water isotopic measurements.