Applications of stable Isotopes

Temperature effect

R/R_o = f ^{-(ee
+ ek)}

Saturation water vapor pressure changes as a function of tempertaure, to f is a function of temperature when we consider changing the temperature of an air mass (Fig). Also e is tempertaure dependent.
Evolution of vapor and precipitation (Fig)
example: depletion begins at 25^oC with a water vapor evaporated from seawater (VSMOW) at a humidity of 85%. Trend closely follows the MWL (Fig)
As a consequence we are getting a correlation between the isotopic composition of precipitation and temperature (Fig) with a slope of 0.69‰/^oC
consequently, the isotopic composition of precipitation gets lighter as a function of latitude (Fig)
The stable isotope thermometer reads differently in different parts of the world (Fig)
There are lots of other incarnations of the temperature effect

when moisture moves over land and gets cut off from the source of evaporation it becomes more and more depleted
examples

North America (Fig)
Europe (Fig)(Fig)
Africa (paleowaters) (Fig)
South America, the effect is less pronounced because of recycling of moisture over land (Fig)

temperature drops with elevation, consequently precipitation becomes lighter with altitude
example from the Italian alps (Fig)

seasonal variations of isotopic composition of precipitation (Fig)

deviations from the meteroric water line can be caused by evaporation of raindrops falling through dry air or by evaporation from surface water bodies at low humidity (Fig)
deuterium excess