Reference:
Vasil'chuk Y.K., Chizhova J.N., Budantseva N.A., Lychagin M.Y., Popovnin V.V., Tkachenko A.N..
Isotopic composition of winter snow on the Aibga Ridge (Krasnaya Polyana), Western Caucasus
// Arctic and Antarctica. – 2017. – № 3.
– P. 99-118.
DOI: 10.7256/2453-8922.2017.3.24402.
DOI: 10.7256/2453-8922.2017.3.24402
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Abstract: The object of the study is the isotopic composition of the January snow on the slopes of the Aibga and Psekhako mountains in Krasnaya Polyana in 2010 (29 snow samples) and 2017 (58 snow samples). In 2010, the snow cover was sampled on the Aibga ridges and the Psekhako Ridge. In 2017, on the slope of the Aibga ridge, fresh snow was sampled. Along the ski run Rosa Khutor, surface snow was also sampled. Isotopic composition measurements were performed using the Delta-V (Finnigan) mass spectrometer in the isotope-geochemical laboratory of the Faculty of Geography of Lomonosov Moscow State University. The authors of the study conclude that high values of the deuterium excess can be caused by three reasons: 1) the air mass itself, which had been above the inland areas for a long time, has changed its isotope characteristics due to re-evaporation and moisture condensation, 2) the conditions of condensation, when adiabatic cooling of the air mass leads to isotope depletion in the precipitation, more prominent for δ18O than for δ2H and 3) post-sedimentation processes on the snow surface. Perhaps the isotopic composition of the snow cover in Krasnaya Polyana is formed under the influence of all these three factors.
Keywords: altitude isotopic effect, fresh snow, snow cover, hydrogen isotopes, oxygen isotopes, isotopic composition, Krasnaya Polyana, Aibga Ridge, Psekharo Ridge, Western Caucasus
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