Issue 3, 2020

Natural and anthropogenic sources of bromoform and dibromomethane in the oceanographic and biogeochemical regime of the subtropical North East Atlantic

Abstract

The organic bromine compounds bromoform (CHBr3) and dibromomethane (CH2Br2) influence tropospheric chemistry and stratospheric ozone depletion. Their atmospheric abundance is generally related to a common marine source, which is not well characterized. A cruise between the three Macaroenesian Archipelagos of Cape Verde, the Canaries and Madeira revealed that anthropogenic sources increased oceanic CHBr3 emissions significantly close to some islands, especially at the Canaries, while heterotrophic processes in the ocean increased the flux of CH2Br2 from the sea to the atmosphere in the Cape Verde region. As anthropogenic disinfection processes, which release CHBr3 in coastal areas increase, and as more CH2Br2 may be produced from increased heterotrophy in a warming, deoxygenated ocean, both sources could supply higher fractions of stratospheric bromine in the future, with yet unknown consequences for stratospheric ozone.

Graphical abstract: Natural and anthropogenic sources of bromoform and dibromomethane in the oceanographic and biogeochemical regime of the subtropical North East Atlantic

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
21 12月 2019
Accepted
21 2月 2020
First published
12 3月 2020

Environ. Sci.: Processes Impacts, 2020,22, 679-707

Natural and anthropogenic sources of bromoform and dibromomethane in the oceanographic and biogeochemical regime of the subtropical North East Atlantic

M. Mehlmann, B. Quack, E. Atlas, H. Hepach and S. Tegtmeier, Environ. Sci.: Processes Impacts, 2020, 22, 679 DOI: 10.1039/C9EM00599D

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements