On a relationship between air temperature and oxygen isotope ratio of snow and firn in the south pole region

During the period November 1964 to October 1965 a total of 89 samples of precipitation were collected at the Amundsen-Scott Station. Oxygen isotopes analysis discloses the presence of an ‘isotopic summer’ and an ‘isotopic winter’. These results combined with upper air observation permit the formulation of a relationship between δox of precipitation and the temperature of an effective condensation level. A simple model based on equilibrium Rayleigh condensation processes for moist air masses over Antarctica is advanced.