Global increase of SF6 observed in the atmosphere

• Main Authors: Maiss, Manfred, Levin, Ingeborg
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 1994
• Subjects: 530; 530 Physics; Neumayer; Neumayer Station; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/6867/; https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/6867/1/MaissGRL1994.pdf; https://doi.org/10.11588/heidok.00006867; https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:bsz:16-opus-68673

High precision long-term observations of the trace gas sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) in background air at Neumayer station, Antarctica (1986-1991), and at Izana observatory, Tenerife (1991-1992), are presented. Since the very first measurements in 1970 (0.03pptv), the purely anthropogenic greenhouse gas SF6 has increased by two orders of magnitude to a global mean value of 2.8pptv in 1992. The observations can best be fitted by a quadratic curve with a recent increase rate of 8.3%/yr. A significant north-south gradient of 0.29pptv is observed. From this gradient an interhemispheric exchange time of 1.4 years is derived. A modeled atmospheric budget history agrees reasonably well with estimates of global SF6 production rates and leads to an extrapolated SF6 concentration of about 20pptv for the year 2030.