Observations of I 2 at a remote marine site

• Published in: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
• Main Authors: M. J. Lawler, A. S. Mahajan, A. Saiz-Lopez, E. S. Saltzman
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Copernicus Publications 2014
• Subjects: Physics; QC1-999; Chemistry; QD1-999; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-2669-2014; https://doaj.org/article/5481fffe44c7477c8b0e4daa034f1d1a

Inorganic iodine plays a significant role in the photochemistry of the marine boundary layer, but the sources and cycling of iodine are not well understood. We report the first I 2 observations in marine air that is not impacted by coastal macroalgal emissions or sea ice chemistry. The data clearly demonstrate that the very high I 2 levels previously reported for coastal air are not representative of open ocean conditions. In this study, gas phase I 2 was measured at the Cape Verde Atmospheric Observatory, a semi-remote site in the eastern tropical Atlantic, using atmospheric pressure chemical ionization tandem mass spectrometry. Atmospheric I 2 levels typically increased beginning at sunset, leveled off after midnight, and then rapidly decreased at sunrise. There was also a smaller midday maximum in I 2 that was probably caused by a measurement artifact. Ambient I 2 mixing ratios ranged from <0.02–0.6 pmol mol −1 in May 2007 and <0.03–1.67 pmol mol −1 in May 2009. The sea-air flux implied by the nighttime buildup of I 2 is too small to explain the observed daytime IO levels at this site. Iodocarbon measurements made in this region previously are also insufficient to explain the observed 1–2 pmol mol −1 of daytime IO. The observations imply the existence of an unknown daytime source of gas phase inorganic iodine. Carpenter et al. (2013) recently proposed that sea surface emissions of HOI are several times larger than the flux of I 2 . Such a flux could account for both the nighttime I 2 and the daytime IO observations.