Bromoalkane production by Antarctic ice algae

W. T. Sturges; C. W. Sullivan; R. C. Schnell; L. E. Heidt; W. H. Pollock

doi:10.3402/tellusb.v45i2.15586

Bromoalkane production by Antarctic ice algae

Tellus B: Chemical and Physical Meteorology

Volume 45 (1993): Issue 2

By: W. T. Sturges, C. W. Sullivan, R. C. Schnell, L. E. Heidt and W. H. Pollock

Open Access

|Jan 1993

Abstract

Ice microalgae, collected from the underside of annual sea ice in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, were found to contain and release to seawater a number of brominated hydrocarbons. These included bromoform, dibromomethane, mixed bromochloromethanes, and methyl bromide. Atmospheric measurements in the McMurdo Sound vicinity revealed the presence of bromoform and methyl bromide in the lower atmosphere, with lowest concentrations inland, further indicating that biogenic activity in the Sound is a source of organic bromine gases to the Antarctic atmosphere. This may have important implications for boundary layer chemistry in Antarctica. In the Arctic, the presence of bromoform has been linked to loss of surface ozone in the spring. We report here preliminary evidence for similar surface ozone loss at McMurdo Station.

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Articles in this issue

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3402/tellusb.v45i2.15586 | Journal eISSN: 1600-0889

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Language: English

Page range: 120 - 126

Submitted on: Nov 15, 1991

Accepted on: Jun 9, 1992

Published on: Jan 1, 1993

Published by: Stockholm University Press

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

© 1993 W. T. Sturges, C. W. Sullivan, R. C. Schnell, L. E. Heidt, W. H. Pollock, published by Stockholm University Press
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Volume 45 (1993): Issue 2