Organic bromine compounds produced in sea ice in Antarctic winter

Katarina Abrahamsson (), Anna Granfors, Martin Ahnoff, Carlos A. Cuevas and Alfonso Saiz-Lopez ()
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Katarina Abrahamsson: University of Gothenburg
Anna Granfors: AstraZeneca, Product Technology and Development
Martin Ahnoff: University of Gothenburg
Carlos A. Cuevas: Institute of Physical Chemistry Rocasolano
Alfonso Saiz-Lopez: Institute of Physical Chemistry Rocasolano

Nature Communications, 2018, vol. 9, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract During polar springtime, active bromine drives ozone, a greenhouse gas, to near-zero levels. Bromine production and emission in the polar regions have so far been assumed to require sunlight. Here, we report measurements of bromocarbons in sea ice, snow, and air during the Antarctic winter that reveal an unexpected new source of organic bromine to the atmosphere during periods of no sunlight. The results show that Antarctic winter sea ice provides 10 times more bromocarbons to the atmosphere than Southern Ocean waters, and substantially more than summer sea ice. The inclusion of these measurements in a global climate model indicates that the emitted bromocarbons will disperse throughout the troposphere in the southern hemisphere and through photochemical degradation to bromine atoms, contribute ~ 10% to the tropospheric reactive bromine budget. Combined together, our results suggest that winter sea ice could potentially be an important source of atmospheric bromine with implications for atmospheric chemistry and climate at a hemispheric scale.

Date: 2018
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-07062-8

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