Dear Colleagues,

You are cordially invited to attend an IAEA webinar on The Future of the Global Network of Isotopes in Precipitation (GNIP).

Date: 14:00 – 15:30 CET on 2 June 2022
Register for the event here.
Password for the event: AjjNVPs?992

Since 1960, the IAEA has been coordinating the Global Network of Isotopes in Precipitation (GNIP), in cooperation with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). At selected sampling points, representative rainwater and snowfall samples are collected, analysed for their isotopic composition (oxygen-18, deuterium and partly also tritium) and the results entered into an open-access database under custodianship of the IAEA Isotope Hydrology Section. GNIP was founded in response to the atmospheric tritium peak following thermonuclear testing prior to the Partial Test Ban Treaty (1963), and quickly added stable heavy isotopes of the water molecule into its portfolio, becoming the dominant application for decades. Only recently, with tritium levels in precipitation largely returning to natural background, has this tracer has moved back into focus.

A 60-year success story however is only as good as it is future-proof. The ever-increasing demand for environmental isotopic baseline data, augmenting both spatial coverage and temporal resolution coincides with giant leaps in measurement technology due to the introduction of laser absorption spectroscopy, but how to manage the sample logistics and data flows? Tritium is taking a new role in the GNIP tracer portfolio, but which other tracers would merit global baseline observations? The sampling technique is well established, but how to sustain sampling efforts to obtain the desired time series relevant for a rapidly changing climate? And, no less relevant, how to share data with global coverage and to be globally accessible yet giving all the contributors the recognition needed to lobby the extension of their field, laboratory and scientific efforts?

In response to the above, the IAEA has convened a Technical Meeting with a small team of invited experts to discuss those aspects and summarize relevant information not only at scientific, but also policymakers’ levels. We are cordially inviting you to attend our webinar, where we will present the main conclusions of the meeting and open the floor for discussion, feedback and suggestions on the future of GNIP.

Kind regards,

Jodie