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WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH, VOL. 43, W12411, doi:10.1029/2007WR006011, 2007

Cloud water in windward and leeward mountain forests: The stable isotope signature of orographic cloud water

M. A. Scholl

Water Resources Discipline, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia, USA

T. W. Giambelluca

Geography Department, University of Hawai'i at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA

S. B. Gingerich

Pacific Islands Water Science Center, U.S. Geological Survey, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA

M. A. Nullet

Geography Department, University of Hawai'i at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA

L. L. Loope

Biological Resources Discipline, U.S. Geological Survey, Makawao, Hawaii, USA

Abstract

Cloud water can be a significant hydrologic input to mountain forests. Because it is a precipitation source that is vulnerable to climate change, it is important to quantify amounts of cloud water input at watershed and regional scales. During this study, cloud water and rain samples were collected monthly for 2 years at sites on windward and leeward East Maui. The difference in isotopic composition between volume-weighted average cloud water and rain samples was 1.4‰ δ ¹⁸O and 12‰ δ ²H for the windward site and 2.8‰ δ ¹⁸O and 25‰ δ ²H for the leeward site, with the cloud water samples enriched in ¹⁸O and ²H relative to the rain samples. A summary of previous literature shows that fog and/or cloud water is enriched in ¹⁸O and ²H compared to rain at many locations around the world; this study documents cloud water and rain isotopic composition resulting from weather patterns common to montane environments in the trade wind latitudes. An end-member isotopic composition for cloud water was identified for each site and was used in an isotopic mixing model to estimate the proportion of precipitation input from orographic clouds. Orographic cloud water input was 37% of the total precipitation at the windward site and 46% at the leeward site. This represents an estimate of water input to the forest that could be altered by changes in cloud base altitude resulting from global climate change or deforestation.

Received 2 March 2007; accepted 31 August 2007; published 20 December 2007.

Keywords: water isotopes; cloud forests; precipitation.

Index Terms: 1655 Global Change: Water cycles (1836); 0454 Biogeosciences: Isotopic composition and chemistry (1041, 4870); 1879 Hydrology: Watershed.

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Citation: Scholl, M. A., T. W. Giambelluca, S. B. Gingerich, M. A. Nullet, and L. L. Loope (2007), Cloud water in windward and leeward mountain forests: The stable isotope signature of orographic cloud water, Water Resour. Res., 43, W12411, doi:10.1029/2007WR006011.

This paper is not subject to U.S. copyright. Published in 2007 by the American Geophysical Union.