Coastal marine methyl iodide source and links to new particle formation at Cape Grim during February 2006

Abstract

Environmental context. Emissions of methyl iodide of a biological origin from inshore and coastal waters can be an important component of the atmospheric budget of iodine. Iodine from this and other sources is important in the natural ozone cycle in the troposphere and stratosphere, and may play a role in the formation of new small particles that can then grow to seed clouds. The specific coastal ecology at each location is important to the magnitude and characteristics of this methyl iodide source. Abstract. Methyl iodide concentration in seawater and in the air directly above the sea was measured at an inshore site adjacent to the Cape Grim Baseline Air Pollution Station (Cape Grim BAPS) near a bed of Bull Kelp (Durvillaea potatorum) over daylight cycles and along a transect out to 5 km offshore. Most inshore samples had low and variable methyl iodide concentrations in seawater (14.8–57.7 pM) and in air immediately above the sea (2.1–3.8 parts per trillion by volume), with a partial tidal influence. A period of elevated methyl iodide concentration in the water (144.5 pM) and in air above the sea surface (5.5 pptv) was immediately followed by a measurement of new particles at the Cape Grim BAPS. This correlation provided indirect evidence that emission of methyl iodide from kelp is connected to the new particle formation pathway, but there was no evidence of a direct causal link. Elevated levels of atmospheric methyl iodide were not detected at the station (adjacent to the site but on top of a 94-m cliff) at the same time, which suggests the effect was localised above the sea surface. A rapid decrease of methyl iodide out to 5 km suggested that a source at the coastal reef was greater than from pelagic phytoplankton; this source could be the intertidal kelp beds.