The role of the Global Network for Isotopes in precipitation (GNIP) in hydrological and hydro-climatic studies.

PANARELLO, H.O.; ARAGUAS ARAGUAS, L.; GIBERT, E.; GIBERT-MASSAULT, E.

Isotope Techniques in the Study of Environmental Change

INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY (IAEA)

Lugar: Viena, Austria; Año: 1998; p. 79 - 91

<!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0mm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US;} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:70.85pt 30.0mm 70.85pt 30.0mm; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> Abstract               During the last 35 years, the joint programme of the IAEA and WMO devoted to the systematic measurement of oxygen-18, deuterium and tritium in precipitation on a global scale has compiled a database with more than 100,000 isotope measurements. The survey, known as the Global Network for Isotopes in Precipitation or GNIP, provided basic data on the spatial and temporal distribution of these isotopes. This has been recognized as the major reference of isotope data in precipitation for hydrological applications. For more than a decade, the oxygen-18 and deuterium records have also been used to validate Atmospheric Global Circulation Models and to calibrate isotope records in palaeoclimatic archives, such as ice cores, lake sediments, tree rings, speleothems, and groundwater. This paper briefly reviews the main fields in Earth Sciences, which benefited of the GNIP database and describes the new requirements and challenges of the programme to create, reactivate, or maintain some of the co-operating meteorological stations.