Spatiotemporal characterization of the isotopic composition of meteoric waters in Cuba

Alejandro Garcia-Moya; Carlos Manuel Alonso-Hernández; Ricardo Sánchez-Murillo; Yasser Morera-Gómez; Minerva Sánchez-Llull; Oscar Díaz Rizo; Osvaldo Cuesta Santos; Rosemery López Lee; Osvaldo Brígido Flores; Enma Odalys Ramos Viltre; Lucia Ortega

doi:10.1038/s41597-024-04178-z

Spatiotemporal characterization of the isotopic composition of meteoric waters in Cuba

Sci Data. 2024 Dec 19;11(1):1398. doi: 10.1038/s41597-024-04178-z.

Affiliations

¹ Departamento de Estudios de la Contaminación Ambiental, Centro de Estudios Ambientales de Cienfuegos (CEAC), Road to Castillo de Jagua km 1,5 Ciudad Nuclear, 59350, Cienfuegos, Cuba. garciamoya90@gmail.com.
² International Atomic Energy Agency, Marine Environment Laboratories-Radioecology Laboratory (REL). 4a, Quai Antoine 1er, MC, 98000, Monaco.
³ University of Texas at Arlington, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Arlington, TX, USA.
⁴ Universidad de Navarra, Instituto de Biodiversidad y Medioambiente BIOMA, Irunlarrea 1, 31008, Pamplona, España.
⁵ Departamento de Estudios de la Contaminación Ambiental, Centro de Estudios Ambientales de Cienfuegos (CEAC), Road to Castillo de Jagua km 1,5 Ciudad Nuclear, 59350, Cienfuegos, Cuba.
⁶ Departamento de Gestión e Ingeniería Ambiental, Centro de Estudios Ambientales de Cienfuegos, 17th Street and 46th Ave., 55100, Cienfuegos, Cuba.
⁷ Instituto Superior de Tecnologías y Ciencias Aplicadas de la Universidad de La Habana (InSTEC-UH), La Habana, 10600, Cuba.
⁸ National Institute of Meteorology. Atmospheric Chemistry and Pollution Center, La Habana, 11700, Cuba.
⁹ Department of Applied Nuclear Techniques and Environmental Monitoring, Environmental Engineering Centre of Camagüey (CIAC), Camagüey, Cuba.
¹⁰ National Network for Environmental Radiological Surveillance. Center for Radiation Protection and Hygiene (CPHR). La Victoria II road and Monumental km 2, 5 Guanabacoa, La Habana, Cuba.
¹¹ International Atomic Energy Agency, Isotope Hydrology Section, Division of Physical and Chemical Sciences, Department of Nuclear Sciences and Applications. Vienna International Center, Vienna, Austria.

Abstract

The stable isotope composition of meteoric water has been widely used to understand hydrological processes worldwide. We present a unique dataset, with the isotopic composition (δ¹⁸O and δ²H) of meteoric waters, derived from a nationwide study in Cuba. It includes monthly composite and event-based precipitations, from January 2017 to December 2021 (N = 526 and N = 111 respectively). Monthly data showed minor seasonal trends (dry vs. rainy), with a notable influence of tropical cyclones. Event-based data demonstrated that precipitation associated with tropical cyclones exhibited lower isotopic compositions. The analysis of potential factors influencing the isotopic composition of precipitation showed a minor influence of the rainfall amount, but negligible influence of factors such are relative humidity, elevation, and air temperature. This data set can be used as a tool not only to understand hydrological processes at the country scale, but also to further improve and develop isotope-enabled modelling for assessing water balances and fluxes, understanding the impact of extreme events, and paleoreconstruction in the Intra-Americas Sea.