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Growth in stratospheric chlorine from short-lived chemicals not controlled by the Montreal Protocol

Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review

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  • R. Hossaini
  • M. P. Chipperfield
  • A. Saiz-Lopez
  • J. J. Harrison
  • R. von Glasow
  • R. Sommariva
  • E. Atlas
  • M. Navarro
  • S. A. Montzka
  • W. Feng
  • S. Dhomse
  • C. Harth
  • J. Mühle
  • C. Lunder
  • S. O'Doherty
  • D. Young
  • S. Reimann
  • M. K. Vollmer
  • P. B. Krummel
  • P. F. Bernath
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<mark>Journal publication date</mark>1/07/2015
<mark>Journal</mark>Geophysical Research Letters
Issue number11
Volume42
Number of pages8
Pages (from-to)4573-4580
Publication StatusPublished
Early online date9/05/15
<mark>Original language</mark>English

Abstract

We have developed a chemical mechanism describing the tropospheric degradation of chlorine containing very short-lived substances (VSLS). The scheme was included in a global atmospheric model and used to quantify the stratospheric injection of chlorine from anthropogenic VSLS ( inline image) between 2005 and 2013. By constraining the model with surface measurements of chloroform (CHCl3), dichloromethane (CH2Cl2), tetrachloroethene (C2Cl4), trichloroethene (C2HCl3), and 1,2-dichloroethane (CH2ClCH2Cl), we infer a 2013 inline image mixing ratio of 123 parts per trillion (ppt). Stratospheric injection of source gases dominates this supply, accounting for ∼83% of the total. The remainder comes from VSLS-derived organic products, phosgene (COCl2, 7%) and formyl chloride (CHClO, 2%), and also hydrogen chloride (HCl, 8%). Stratospheric inline image increased by ∼52% between 2005 and 2013, with a mean growth rate of 3.7 ppt Cl/yr. This increase is due to recent and ongoing growth in anthropogenic CH2Cl2—the most abundant chlorinated VSLS not controlled by the Montreal Protocol.