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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-2026-5233</article-id>
<title-group>
<article-title>Influence of convective organization on the triple oxygen isotope composition of West African monsoon rainfall: insights from a 7-year record in Benin</article-title>
</title-group>
<contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Vallet-Coulomb</surname>
<given-names>Christine</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5898-1516</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>Peugeot</surname>
<given-names>Christophe</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2161-125X</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Chávez-Espinoza</surname>
<given-names>Diego</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>Zappelli</surname>
<given-names>Alexandre</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>Au Yang</surname>
<given-names>David</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0822-3618</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>Voigt</surname>
<given-names>Claudia</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2124-9684</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Abdoukarim</surname>
<given-names>Alassane</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff4">
<sup>4</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Kotchoni</surname>
<given-names>Valerie</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff4">
<sup>4</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Houngue</surname>
<given-names>Rita</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff5">
<sup>5</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Ouani</surname>
<given-names>Theodore</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff5">
<sup>5</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Afouda</surname>
<given-names>Simon</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff5">
<sup>5</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Wubda</surname>
<given-names>Maxime</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff5">
<sup>5</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Gbewezoun</surname>
<given-names>Houegnon Géraud Vinel</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff4">
<sup>4</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Alexandre</surname>
<given-names>Anne</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0696-4022</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
</contrib-group><aff id="aff1">
<label>1</label>
<addr-line>Aix Marseille University, CNRS, IRD, INRA, Coll France, CEREGE, Aix‐en‐Provence, France</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff2">
<label>2</label>
<addr-line>Hydrosciences Montpellier, IRD, CNRS, University Montpellier, Montpellier, France</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff3">
<label>3</label>
<addr-line>Institute of Soil Sciences and Site Ecology, TU Dresden, 01737 Tharandt, Germany</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff4">
<label>4</label>
<addr-line>Laboratoire d’Hydrologie Appliquée, Abomey Calavi University, Benin</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff5">
<label>5</label>
<addr-line>IRD Bénin, Cotonou, Bénin</addr-line>
</aff>
<pub-date pub-type="epub">
<day>14</day>
<month>09</month>
<year>2026</year>
</pub-date>
<volume>2026</volume>
<fpage>1</fpage>
<lpage>33</lpage>
<permissions>
<copyright-statement>Copyright: &#x000a9; 2026 Christine Vallet-Coulomb 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-2026-5233/">This article is available from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-5233/</self-uri>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-5233/egusphere-2026-5233.pdf">The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-5233/egusphere-2026-5233.pdf</self-uri>
<abstract>
<p>Triple oxygen isotopes, and specifically &lt;sup&gt;17&lt;/sup&gt;O-excess, provide new opportunities to investigate kinetic fractionation associated with atmospheric moisture sources, continental moisture recycling, and cloud microphysical processes. However, observations of &lt;sup&gt;17&lt;/sup&gt;O-excess in precipitation remain extremely scarce in Africa, leaving its potential for tracing atmospheric processes in the West African Monsoon (WAM) largely unexplored. Here we analyze a high-frequency precipitation isotope dataset (&amp;delta;&lt;sup&gt;18&lt;/sup&gt;O, &amp;delta;&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;H, d-excess, and &lt;sup&gt;17&lt;/sup&gt;O-excess) from Benin, comprising a 7-year record at the inland Nalohou station and a complementary 2-year record from a coastal station near Cotonou. Three isotopic clusters are identified inland, corresponding to distinct rainfall regimes. The first is associated with short-lived convective events affected by sub-cloud rain evaporation, while the second reflects more organized convective systems and a weak signature of continental moisture recycling. The third cluster, observed only inland, is characterized by strongly depleted &amp;delta;&lt;sup&gt;18&lt;/sup&gt;O together with simultaneous decreases in d-excess and &lt;sup&gt;17&lt;/sup&gt;O-excess, and occurs mainly during the mature monsoon stage. Its rainfall characteristics are consistent with larger and more organized convective systems, with a greater contribution from their stratiform component. At the interannual scale, &amp;delta;&lt;sup&gt;18&lt;/sup&gt;O variability is more closely related to rainfall characteristics during the mature monsoon phase than to rainfall amount. Overall, these results indicate that, during the WAM mature monsoon phase, precipitation isotopes primarily reflect convective organization and associated cloud microphysical processes, while retaining a weak signature of continental moisture recycling during inland transport. These combined &amp;delta;&lt;sup&gt;18&lt;/sup&gt;O, d-excess, and &lt;sup&gt;17&lt;/sup&gt;O-excess data provide new observational constraints for isotope-enabled atmospheric and hydrological models.</p>
</abstract>
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<funding-group>
<award-group id="gs1">
<funding-source>Agence Nationale de la Recherche</funding-source>
<award-id>CE01‐0002‐01</award-id>
</award-group>
<award-group id="gs2">
<funding-source>Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique</funding-source>
<award-id>EC2CO</award-id>
</award-group>
</funding-group>
</article-meta>
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