Articles | Volume 17, issue 5
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-1881-2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-1881-2021
Research article
 | 
23 Sep 2021
Research article |  | 23 Sep 2021

The triple oxygen isotope composition of phytoliths, a new proxy of atmospheric relative humidity: controls of soil water isotope composition, temperature, CO2 concentration and relative humidity

Clément Outrequin, Anne Alexandre, Christine Vallet-Coulomb, Clément Piel, Sébastien Devidal, Amaelle Landais, Martine Couapel, Jean-Charles Mazur, Christophe Peugeot, Monique Pierre, Frédéric Prié, Jacques Roy, Corinne Sonzogni, and Claudia Voigt

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Cited articles

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Alexandre, A., Crespin, J., Sylvestre, F., Sonzogni, C., and Hilbert, D. W.: The oxygen isotopic composition of phytolith assemblages from tropical rainforest soil tops (Queensland, Australia): validation of a new paleoenvironmental tool, Geochim. Cosmochim. Ac., 8, 307–324, 2012. 
Alexandre, A., Landais, A., Vallet-Coulomb, C., Piel, C., Devidal, S., Pauchet, S., Sonzogni, C., Couapel, M., Pasturel, M., Cornuault, P., Xin, J., Mazur, J.-C., Prié, F., Bentaleb, I., Webb, E., Chalié, F., and Roy, J.: The triple oxygen isotope composition of phytoliths as a proxy of continental atmospheric humidity: insights from climate chamber and climate transect calibrations, Biogeosciences, 15, 3223–3241, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-3223-2018, 2018. 
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Short summary
Continental atmospheric humidity is a key climate parameter poorly captured by global climate models. Model–data comparison approaches that are applicable beyond the instrumental period are essential to progress on this issue but face a lack of quantitative relative humidity proxies. Here, we calibrate the triple oxygen isotope composition of phytoliths as a new quantitative proxy of continental relative humidity suitable for past climate reconstructions.
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