Isotopic composition of precipitation in Ferrara Province

Ferrara province is located in the Po valley, a flat low-land surrounded by the Alps and the Appennines. The particularity of this area is represented by the proximity to the Comacchio Valleys and the Adriatic Sea. It is interesting to note that, in spite of the vicinity to the sea, the area is charaterized by continental climatic characteristics. Stable hydrogen and oxygen isotope ratios are dynamic tracers for the cyclying of atmospheric moisture as influenced by water vapour advection, condensation, and evaporation [1]. The stations selected for this study include various sectors of the Ferrara province and allow to characterize the isotopic fingerprint of the local meteoric water. The recorded "18O values ranging between -6.95 and -5.19, and "D values ranging between -46.21 and -31.82 are compared with Northern Meteoric water Line [2]. These data will be implemented with the investigation of further local events in the selected stations in order to create an hydro-archive, i.e. a data-set of stable isotope of meteoric water in Ferrara province. This is important considering that the stable isotopes provide a snapshot of the current climatic conditions to be compared with the literature data and with the future composition, as a proxy to evaluate on-going climatic changes