Chlorine isotope composition in chlorofluorocarbons CFC-11, CFC-12 and CFC-113 in firn, stratospheric and tropospheric air

• Main Authors: Allin, S. J., Laube, J. C., Witrant, E., Kaiser, J., Mckenna, E., Dennis, P., Mulvaney, R., Capron, E., Martinerie, P., Röckmann, T., Blunier, T., Schwander, J., Fraser, P. J., Langenfelds, R. L., Sturges, W. T.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: Fletcher Promontory; Greenland; Grim; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/51577/; https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/51577/1/acpd_14_31813_2014_print.pdf; https://doi.org/10.5194/acpd-14-31813-2014

The stratospheric degradation of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) releases chlorine, which is a major contributor to the destruction of stratospheric ozone (O3). A recent study reported strong chlorine isotope fractionation during the breakdown of the most abundant CFC (CFC-12, CCl2F2, Laube et al., 2010a), similar to effects seen in nitrous oxide (N2O). Using air archives to obtain a long-term record of chlorine isotope ratios in CFCs could help to identify and quantify their sources and sinks. We analyse the three most abundant CFCs and show that CFC-11 (CCl3F) and CFC-113 (CClF2CCl2F) exhibit significant stratospheric chlorine isotope fractionation, in common with CFC-12. The apparent isotope fractionation (εapp) for mid- and high-latitude stratospheric samples are (-2.4±0.5) ‰ and (-2.3±0.4) ‰ for CFC-11, (-12.2±1.6) ‰ and (-6.8±0.8) ‰ for CFC-12 and (-3.5±1.5) ‰ and (-3.3±1.2) ‰ for CFC-113, respectively. Assuming a constant isotope composition of emissions, we calculate the expected trends in the tropospheric isotope signature of these gases based on their stratospheric 37Cl enrichment and stratosphere-troposphere exchange. We compare these projections to the long-term δ(37Cl) trends of all three CFCs, measured on background tropospheric samples from the Cape Grim air archive (Tasmania, 1978 – 2010) and tropospheric firn air samples from Greenland (NEEM site) and Antarctica (Fletcher Promontory site). From 1970 to the present-day, projected trends agree with tropospheric measurements, suggesting that within analytical uncertainties a constant average emission isotope delta is a compatible scenario. The measurement uncertainty is too high to determine whether the average emission isotope delta has been affected by changes in CFC manufacturing processes, or not. Our study increases the suite of trace gases amenable to direct isotope ratio measurements in small air volumes (approximately 200 ml), using a single-detector gas chromatography-mass spectrometry system.