Global perspective of local meteoric water lines based on daily and
monthly data: a consideration of climate types
Abstract
The stable hydrogen and oxygen isotopes as well as their correlation in
precipitation have been widely investigated for the understanding of
various hydrological processes. Monthly precipitation data were usually
recommended in order to establish a linear relationship between the
stable hydrogen and oxygen isotope ratios (also known as local meteoric
water lines or LMWL for a specific location); however, the LMWL based on
daily (or event-based) precipitation data is usually different from that
using monthly data. Based on 83 sampling stations across the world from
2000 to 2017, local meteoric water lines were calculated using daily (or
event-based) precipitation data (n=9354) and corresponding monthly data
(n=1895), respectively; multiple regression methods were used, including
ordinary least squares, reduced major axis and major axis regressions as
well as their precipitation-weighted counterparts. The global meteoric
water line from daily data is δ2H = (7.72 ± 0.02) δ18O + (6.84 ± 0.15)
(n=9354, r2=0.96) and from monthly data is δ2H = (7.81 ± 0.04)
δ18O+(7.61 ± 0.32) (n=1895, r2=0.96). The stations used in this study
were grouped into five climate types, according to the Köppen Climate
classification. The precipitation-weighted regression may increase the
long-term receptiveness of LMWL using daily-based (or event-based)
samples, not only for arid regions, but also for cold regions. When only
relatively short-term isotopic records in event-based precipitation
samples are available, which is usual in modern hydrological studies,
the weighted regression (especially precipitation weighted ordinary
least squares regression, PWLSR) is helpful to create a respective local
meteoric water line.