Measurements of light atmospheric hydrocarbons over the Atlantic in regions of low biological activity

Abstract

More than 200 in situ measurements of several selected nonmethane hydrocarbons (NMHCs) were made in the remote marine atmosphere over the Atlantic between 40°S and 50°N. Ethane, the by far longest lived of the NMHCs, showed southern hemispheric mixing ratios around 280 ppt, comparable in magnitude to most other previous measurements. The mixing ratios of ethene, propene, propane, and i‐ and n‐butane in the southern hemisphere were in the range of 10–30 ppt. For i‐pentane and n‐pentane the atmospheric mixing ratios in the southern hemisphere were below the detection limit of 15–20 ppt. These values are rather low compared to other published measurements in the marine atmosphere. This is due to the remoteness of the measuring locations and the very low biological activity in the surrounding ocean areas. For all alkanes the latitudinal profiles exhibit a considerable decrease from north to south. The relative hydrocarbon patterns show that the alkanes in the northern hemisphere are primarily due to long‐range transport from continental or coastal areas. In general the transport times exceed several days. Consequently, the observed northern hemispheric ethene and propene mixing ratios must be, with few exceptions, primarily the result of oceanic emissions. The average difference of these compounds by a factor of 2 between the southern and the northern hemisphere can be explained by change of the phytoplankton concentration in ocean water. There is little or no indication for the existence of significant diurnal cycles for these two alkenes.