A unified Craig-Gordon isotope model of stable hydrogen and oxygen isotope fractionation during fresh or saltwater evaporation

Abstract

Evaporation of water from the oceans and terrestrial environment governs the global water cycle and climate. Heavy isotope (2H,18O,17O) enrichment during evaporation led to the development of the well-known Craig-Gordon (C-G) model for quantifying evaporation. Several variables control the H and O isotopic composition of evaporating water including; the isotopic composition of the water, temperature, relative humidity, ambient vapor isotopic composition, diffusion and/or mixing at the water-air interface, and the thermodynamic activity (salinity) of water. Previous C-G modeling efforts considered these controlling variables separately; here we propose a newly unified C-G analytical model that allows for simultaneous quantification of all controlling variables in the evaporation of fresh and saline waters. Our unified model accurately predicted the results of laboratory water evaporation experiments conducted under a variety of molecular diffusion and turbulent diffusion conditions. We demonstrate the general applicability of the model by successfully predicting historical O and H isotope data for fresh and saltwater evaporation obtained from the scientific literature. The unified C-G model allows for improved estimates environmental parameters controlling the H and O isotope fractionation during water evaporation under natural conditions and can be used to better inform modeling efforts in regional and large-scale water balance studies.