Iodocarbons and Bromocarbons Associated with Arctic Sea Ice

Abstract:

Short-lived halocarbons were measured in Arctic sea-ice brine, seawater and air above the Greenland and Norwegian seas at about 81°N in mid-summer, from a melting ice floe at the edge of the ice pack. In the ice floe, concentrations of C₂H₅I, 2-C₃H₇I and CH₂Br₂ showed significant enhancement in the sea ice brine, of average factors of 1.7, 1.4 and 2.5 times respectively, compared to the water underneath and after normalising to brine volume. Concentrations of mono-iodocarbons in air are the highest ever reported, and our calculations suggest increased fluxes of halocarbons to the atmosphere may result from their sea-ice enhancement. Laboratory measurements suggest that sea-ice diatoms produce iodocarbons in response to salinity stress. Concentrations of halocarbons in the Arctic ice were similar to those in earlier work in Antarctic sea ice that was similarly warm and porous. As climate warms and Arctic sea ice becomes more like that of the Antarctic, our results lead us to expect the production of iodocarbons and so of reactive iodine gases to increase.