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<front>
<journal-meta>
<journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">EGUsphere</journal-id>
<journal-title-group>
<journal-title>EGUsphere</journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="publisher">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="nlm-ta">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
</journal-title-group>
<issn pub-type="epub"></issn>
<publisher><publisher-name>Copernicus Publications</publisher-name>
<publisher-loc>Göttingen, Germany</publisher-loc>
</publisher>
</journal-meta>
<article-meta>
<article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.5194/egusphere-2026-220</article-id>
<title-group>
<article-title>Technical note: A new monitoring approach to measure water vapor isotopes in high altitude regions</article-title>
</title-group>
<contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Kumar</surname>
<given-names>Gaurav</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Dixit</surname>
<given-names>Yama</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Singh</surname>
<given-names>Anubhav</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0009-0004-3881-7785</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Ranjan</surname>
<given-names>Shyam</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Leuenberger</surname>
<given-names>Markus</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4299-6793</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff4">
<sup>4</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
</contrib-group><aff id="aff1">
<label>1</label>
<addr-line>Centre for Atmospheric Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi, India</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff2">
<label>2</label>
<addr-line>Shaheed Bhagat Singh College, Delhi University, India</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff3">
<label>3</label>
<addr-line>Climate and Environmental Physics, Physics Institute, University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff4">
<label>4</label>
<addr-line>Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern, Hochschulstrasse 4, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland</addr-line>
</aff>
<pub-date pub-type="epub">
<day>23</day>
<month>06</month>
<year>2026</year>
</pub-date>
<volume>2026</volume>
<fpage>1</fpage>
<lpage>16</lpage>
<permissions>
<copyright-statement>Copyright: &#x000a9; 2026 Gaurav Kumar et al.</copyright-statement>
<copyright-year>2026</copyright-year>
<license license-type="open-access">
<license-p>This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit <ext-link ext-link-type="uri"  xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</ext-link></license-p>
</license>
</permissions>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-220/">This article is available from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-220/</self-uri>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-220/egusphere-2026-220.pdf">The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-220/egusphere-2026-220.pdf</self-uri>
<abstract>
<p>Water vapor isotopes provide a comprehensive perspective on the moisture source dynamics for tracing the physical processes in hydrological and climatic studies. Continuous real-time water vapor isotopic measurements using Cavity Ring-Down Spectroscopy (CRDS) techniques are mostly based at stations located in high latitudes and the low-lying tropical regions. Such investigations from high-altitude, tropics, subtropical &amp;ndash; mid-latitude transition zone &amp;ndash; the Himalayas is limited owing to challenging physical conditions and multiple forms of precipitation occurring in the region. In this study, we report the establishment of the first continuous high-altitude isotope-monitoring laboratory in Northwest Himalayas windward side Manali (2,050 above msl) and leeward side Sissu (3,120 above msl) using the Picarro L2140-i Cavity Ring-Down Spectroscopy (CRDS) analyzer. This instrument enables real-time measurements of &amp;delta;&amp;sup1;⁷O, &amp;delta;&amp;sup1;⁸O, and &amp;delta;2H in local atmospheric water vapor. Our laboratory setup integrates installation of Picarro analyzer, a heating air inlet system, meteorological sensor, lightning arrester and calibration protocols suited for optimum performance of the instrument in such challenging high-altitude Himalayan environment. Our laboratory setup protocols integrate the best practice and published guidelines with some additional modifications to mitigate the challenges in water vapor isotopic measurements in high altitude environment. A limitation of the current dataset is that no calibration has been performed since July 2025, due to relocation of JRF recruited to Delhi resulting in the unavailability of the trained personnel to carry out routine calibration cycles. We acknowledge this as a significant shortcoming and highlighted here for transparency. In addition to these continuous water vapor isotope measurements, precipitation events are also recorded, which could be helpful in investigating serious calibration problems should they arise.</p>
</abstract>
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<funding-group>
<award-group id="gs1">
<funding-source>Ministry of Earth Sciences</funding-source>
<award-id>MOES/INDO-SWISS/3/2022-PC-1</award-id>
</award-group>
<award-group id="gs2">
<funding-source>Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung</funding-source>
<award-id>IZINZ2_209542</award-id>
</award-group>
</funding-group>
</article-meta>
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