Abstract
The stable isotope ratios of hydrogen and oxygen were measured for rainwater samples from Typhoon No. 13, which struck Japan on September 1993, and Typhoon No. 6, which passed in July 1996. Rainwater was collected every hour over 2- to 3-day periods at Beppu, Japan (33°16′N, 131°29′E), which lies on or close to the typhoon routes. The deuterium excess parameters (δD – 8 ·δ18O) of the rainwaters vary over wide ranges from 19.22 to 1.52 for Typhoon No. 13, 1993, and from 6.02 to −8.10 for Typhoon No. 6, 1996, respectively. Rainwaters with higher d-values precipitated in the forward parts of the typhoons. This is ascribed to the possibility that the water vapors supplied by the bottom air currents from the front (rear) of the typhoons may be originally formed by rapid (gentle) evaporation of seawater. Symmetrical patterns of spatial δD and δ18O distributions within the typhoon precipitations, as estimated from the variations in the isotope ratios of the typhoon rainwaters, should appear from a continuous isotopic fractionation of water vapors with the bottom air currents converging toward the typhoon center. The weighted means of δD and δ18O of the typhoon precipitations are more negative than those of ordinary rainfall, suggesting that an isotopic influence of typhoon precipitation on surface waters, e.g., river, stream, lake, and spring waters, may be important.
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Received: January 22, 2000 / Accepted: March 24, 2000
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Ohsawa, S., Yusa, Y. Isotopic characteristics of typhonic rainwater: typhoons no. 13 (1993) and no. 6 (1996). Limnology 1, 143–149 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/s102010070021
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s102010070021