An Assessment of Six Years of Precipitation Stable Isotope and Tritium Activity Concentration Records at Station Sv. Urban, Eastern Slovenia

• Published in: Water (Basel) 2024-02, Vol.16 (3), p.469
• Main Authors: Vreča, Polona, Kanduč, Tjaša, Štrok, Marko, Žagar, Klara, Nigro, Matteo, Barsanti, Michele
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Air pollution; Climate; Croatia; Drinking water; Hydrologic cycle; Hydrology; Isotopes; Laboratories; Massachusetts; Precipitation; Precipitation variability; Reference materials; Slovenia; Temperature; Water-supply
• ISSN: 2073-4441; 2073-4441
• DOI: 10.3390/w16030469

We present data from six years (January 2016–December 2021) of monitoring the isotope composition of precipitation at the Sv. Urban station in Eastern Slovenia. The 68 precipitation samples were collected as a monthly composite. The complete dataset (193 data pints) includes information on the stable isotope composition of hydrogen (δ2H) and oxygen (δ18O) and tritium activity concentration (A), obtained using isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) and liquid scintillation counting (LSC) following electrolytic enrichment (EE), respectively. The isotope data, together with meteorological data, are reported. Calculations of the deuterium excess (d-excess), monthly, seasonal, and annual unweighted and precipitation-weighted means and local meteoric water lines (LMWLs) were conducted. The mean values for δ2H, δ18O, d-excess, and A, weighted by precipitation, were −59.9‰, −8.81‰, 10.6‰, and 7.7 TU. The disparities between unweighted and precipitation-weighted δ2H, δ18O, d-excess, A, and LMWLs underscore the significance of non-uniformly distributed precipitation. Annual variations in slope and intercept of the LMWLs emphasize the importance of longer data records (48+ months) to capture consistent trends, while combining data over longer periods may distort accuracy due to distinct isotope differences between individual years related to the variability of climate conditions typical for Slovenia.