Tree-ring δ18O from an Alpine catchment reveals changes in glacier stream water inputs between 1980 and 2010

Abstract

The tree-ring stable carbon and oxygen isotope chronologies from two forest sites located in the Forni Glacier forefield (Italy)—one along the glacier stream (GL) and the other toward the valley slope (SL)—were analyzed with the aim of disentangling the precipitation and glacier meltwater inputs in source water δ18O, as reflected by the tree-ring cellulose δ18O. The cellulose δ18O from the GL trees has a negative correlation with winter and summer temperatures, whereas the cellulose δ18O from the SL trees has a positive correlation with precipitation δ18O. The isotopic signature of the source water at the GL site is also influenced by waters of glacial origin, as confirmed by the 18O-depleted glacier meltwater inputs (GMWI_δ18O) estimated by means of an isotope model. The GMWI_δ18O values are consistent with the mean difference measured between the δ18O in the glacier stream and in the precipitation and the winter and summer temperature explains up to 37 percent of the GMWI_δ18O variance. Our results show an increasing influence of glacier meltwater throughout the past decade for the GL site. Our analysis opens new opportunities to reconstruct changes in water regimes of the glacier streams by means of the tree-ring cellulose δ18O.

Keywords

• tree-ring stable isotopes
• water stable isotopes
• glacier meltwater
• european larch
• forni glacier