Stable isotopes in daily precipitation at Dome Fuji, East Antarctica

Daily precipitation samples for stable isotope analysis were collected throughout 2003 at Dome Fuji Station, inland East Antarctica. Stable isotopes show significantly depleted values with a large seasonal variability, which have never been obtained. Temporal changes in delta- T relation and d- excess are consistent with those found in geographical distribution. Precipitation was obtained almost everyday, though the amounts were quite small ( 27.6 mm water equivalent ( w. e.) annual total and 0.08 mm w. e. daily average). Half of the annual precipitation was accumulated by only 11 events ( 18 days) without seasonality. Since the precipitation events occurred under warmer circumstances, the precipitation- weighted temperature, which should be related directly to the isotopes, was significantly warmer than the mean annual surface temperature, which has usually been adopted as isotopic thermometer. This study provides significant information to understand present- day seasonality of precipitation and its isotopic composition in inland Antarctica.