Bromine
R von Glasow, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK
C Hughes, University of York, York, UK
Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Synopsis
Bromine compounds cycle between the oceans, atmosphere, and land and in the atmosphere reactive bromine can lead to
substantial destruction of ozone, both in the troposphere and in the stratosphere. Furthermore, bromine compounds play an
important role for the oxidation of dimethylsulfide and mercury. The sources, sinks, and atmospheric chemistry of bromine
are described in this article.
Overview and Significance of Bromine Cycle
Bromine is the second element of the halogen group and
occurs naturally in the environment mainly as bromide salts
in small amounts in crustal rock from where it has been
leached and then accumulated in the oceans. It is commer-
cially extracted mainly from seawater and Dead Sea waters.
It further occurs naturally in soils and is taken up by vege-
tation and also from ocean water by marine algae, which
synthesize a large range of organic bromine compounds
which can be released to the ocean and atmosphere.
Bromine cycles between the compartments of ocean, atmo-
sphere, and land. In the atmosphere, inorganic bromine
quickly cycles between the gas and particulate phase,
however many details of this cycling are still ill-quantified.
Organic bromine compounds are used commercially as flame
retardants, pesticides (fumigants, mainly CH3Br) and bromine
was also used as an antiknocking agent in unleaded fuels.
Many of these compounds (especially halons) play an
important role in stratospheric ozone depletion (see Strato-
spheric Chemistry Topics: Halogens; Reactive Nitrogen (NOx
and Noy); HOx; Hydrogen Budget; Halogen Sources, Anthro-
pogenic; Halogen Sources, Natural (Methyl Bromide and
Related Gases); Overview). In the troposphere bromine plays
a role in ozone destruction, the oxidation of dimethylsulfide
and elemental mercury. Global models suggest that bromine
chemistry is responsible for 5–15% of the loss of tropospheric
ozone. The chemistry of bromine is closely linked with that of
the halogens chlorine and iodine. Chlorine and bromine, and
to a lesser extent iodine, are often coemitted from the oceans
and vegetation. Cross-reactions between chlorine, bromine,
and iodine speed up their atmospheric cycling and amplify
their relevance for atmospheric chemistry. See Figure 1 for
an overview of the most important atmospheric bromine
processes.
Sources
The anthropogenic sources of bromine-containing compounds
(halons, anthropogenic CH3Br) are mainly of interest for
the stratosphere, and are discussed in detail in the articles,
Stratospheric Chemistry Topics: Halogens; Reactive Nitrogen
(NOx and Noy); HOx; Hydrogen Budget; Halogen Sources,
Anthropogenic; Halogen Sources, Natural (Methyl Bromide
194 Encyclopedia of Atmospheric Sciences 2nd Edition, Volume 1
and Related Gases); Overview; therefore, in this section we
focus on natural sources. Table 1 summarizes this information.
Sea Spray
Bromine is present as a trace compound in ocean water (about
0.85 mmol l
1). It is supplied by riverine input and has
a residence time of about 108 years. Sea spray aerosol is
formed by wave action and bursting of gas bubbles that
become entrained into the water at the sea surface. This results
in the production of small particles that contain seawater. As
bromide is present in seawater, production of sea spray
aerosol is globally the main source of bromine to the atmo-
sphere and accounts for 3.44–25.6 Tg year
1 (range due to
uncertainty in sea salt flux). The lifetime of particulate
bromine in the atmosphere is determined by two factors: the
lifetime against deposition of sea spray aerosol and the
timescale of photochemical release of bromine to the gas
phase. Bromide has been measured in marine aerosol since
the 1960s and very often the ratio of Br
:Naþ is smaller in
airborne particles than it is in the ocean. This indicates loss of
bromine to the gas phase as the exchange of bromine between
the gas and particulate phase is well documented from labo-
ratory studies but no mechanism for the release of Naþ from
particles is known. Particulate bromine measurements show
very large bromine depletions (10–100%) in aerosol particles
with diameters greater than 1 mm. Interestingly, smaller
particles often show an enrichment of bromine compared to
seawater which is not understood yet.
Polar Regions
In the early 1980s, sudden dramatic decreases in ozone
concentrations were measured in the Canadian Arctic spring
boundary layer. Soon they were linked to bromine chemistry
but the exact bromine liberation mechanism is still somewhat
unclear. These events have since been found to be very wide-
spread both in the Arctic and Antarctic boundary layer in
spring. What could be established is that a very efficient auto-
catalytic reaction cycle leads to the liberation of bromine from
condensed phase bromide:
Br þ O3 / BrO þ O2
BrO þ HO2 / HOBr þ O2
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-382225-3.00017-7
 Biogeochemical Cycles j Bromine 195

Stratosphere
Stratosphere–troposphere exchange of
CFCs halons, organic bromine, inorganic
bromine

Free troposphere
Ozone destruction

Br + O3 BrO + O2
Release of bromine from organic precursors
Oxidation of mercury
org-Br + hv/OH Br +..
Br + Hg RGM

Heterogeneous cycling/release of bromine

HOBr, HBr

Ozone destruction
Br2 BrCl

Boundary layer
Br + O3 BrO + O2

Brx Brx
Sea salt Organic bromine Blowing
CH3 Br snow
CHBr3 Snow

Volcanoes Salt lakes

Marshes
First-year Snowpack
Industry
sea ice
Continents
Bubbles
Polar regions
Ocean

Figure 1 Overview of the most important atmospheric processes involving bromine. RGM stands for reactive gaseous mercury (HgII) and Brx for
photolyzable bromine compounds. Modified from Saiz-Lopez, A., von Glasow, R., 2012. Reactive halogen chemistry in the troposphere. Chemical
Society Reviews 41, 6448–6472.

Table 1 Natural sources of bromine to the atmosphere

Global source strength (Tg (Br) year
1) Comment

Sea salt aerosol 3.44–25.6 Estimated from Br/Na ratio in seawater

and sea salt fluxes from literature
Volcanoes 0.005–0.015 Pyle and Mather (2009)
Ocean exchange of CH3Br Source: 0.035 WMO (2011)
Sink: 0.041
Net:
0.006
Ocean exchange of CH2Br2 0.057–0.28 WMO (2011)
Ocean exchange of CHBr3 0.12–1.4 WMO (2011)
Land-based vegetation, incl. salt 0.014 WMO (2011)
marshes (CH3Br)
Biomass burning (CH3Br) 0.024 WMO (2011)
Fumigation (CH3Br) 0.012 WMO (2011), Ziska et al. (2013), see text

Local lifetimes: CH3Br w 1 year; CH2Br2 w 120 days, CHBr3 w 24 days.

HOBr) leads to the release of two bromine atoms (in the form
HOBr / HOBraq of Br2), hence this autocatalytic cycle has been named the
HOBraq þ Br
þ Hþ / Br2,aq þ H2O ‘bromine explosion’ mechanism due to the ‘explosive’ growth
of gas phase bromine concentrations. The source of the
Br2,aq / Br2
bromide that is involved in this reaction cycle is the ocean.
Br2 þ hn / 2Br Initially marine biogenic organic bromine gases were suspected
Net: O3 þ HO2 þ Br
þ Hþ þ hn / Br þ 2O2 þ H2O to be the source of bromine, but this was soon refuted. Under
some conditions however biogenic bromine gases can play
In this reaction cycle, ozone is destroyed very rapidly. a role as an additional source of bromine (see below). Upon
Furthermore the uptake of one bromine atom (in the form of freezing of seawater the salts contained in it are expelled from
196 Biogeochemical Cycles j Bromine
the ice lattice and largely drain into the ocean, but are also
present as deposits on top of first-year sea ice. It is possible that
the bromine explosion happens on these deposits. Compari-
sons of satellite images of BrO and first-year sea ice have shown
a strong spatial correlation. Furthermore, release from surface
and blowing saline snow has been suggested as an important
source of bromine in polar regions. Snow and ice as well as
airborne particles can also act as substrates where the bromine
explosion takes place. These condensed phases furthermore act
to convert less reactive bromine compounds (e.g., HBr) to
photolyzable bromine species (e.g., Br2). Reactive bromine
compounds have also been measured in the polar free tropo-
sphere pointing to vertical transport either upwards from the
boundary layer into the free troposphere (e.g., through
convection over regions of relatively warm open ocean, so-
called open leads) or downwards from the stratosphere. The
chemistry of bromine and chlorine is closely coupled and a role
for chlorine in bromine release has been suggested to be of
relevance at least under some conditions. Figure 2 summarizes
the sources of bromine in the spring polar boundary layer.
Salt Lakes
In salt lakes large areas of salt are exposed to the atmosphere
either as evaporites or highly saline surface waters. The
bromide content and acidity of salt lakes varies considerably.
Very strong bromine explosions have been found in the Dead
Sea area with BrO mixing ratios of up to 200 ppt. Model
calculations were able to reproduce the measured BrO values
when they assumed the ‘bromine explosion’ mechanism to
take place in large areas of exposed salt as well as the Dead Sea
surface waters; bromine release from saline aerosol is not
enough to reproduce the measured BrO values. Smog
chamber experiments were able to reproduce the release of
Figure 2 Sources of halides in the polar boundary layer. A range of salinity values is indicated for the various reservoirs. PSU stands for practical
salinity unit. From Abbatt, J.P.D., Thomas, J.L., Abrahamsson, K., Boxe, C., Granfors, A., Jones, A.E., King, M.D., Saiz-Lopez, A., Shepson, P.B.,
Sodeau, J., Toohey, D.W., Toubin, C., von Glasow, R., Wren, S.N., Yang, X., 2012. Halogen activation via interactions with environmental ice and
snow. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 12, 6237–6271, reproduced with permission of the authors.
photolyzable bromine from dry salt pans. BrO was also
measured above other salt lakes such as the Salar de Uyuni in
Bolivia. BrO was not detected above some salt lakes where
measurements were made, possibly hinting at the bromine
release being a function of the pH of the soil/salt lake (low pH
leading to more release). Salt lakes might also play a role as
source of natural halogenated organic gases, but this remains
to be quantified.
Salt lakes provide unique ‘natural laboratories’ to study
tropospheric halogen chemistry and bromine chemistry in
particular but a more than regional impact on tropospheric
chemistry is unlikely.
Volcanoes
The emission of HBr from volcanoes, especially arc volcanoes,
has been known for a fairly long time, but the conditions in
volcanic plumes were assumed to be rather unreactive except
for an equilibration between the gas and particulate phase. In
the early 2000s, however, BrO was detected in the plume of
the passively degassing volcano Soufrière Hills on Montserrat
in the Caribbean. Since then BrO was detected in the plumes
of other volcanoes, both from passive degassing (e.g., Etna,
Sicily; Masaya, Nicaragua; Villarica, Chile; Nyiragongo,
Congo; Mt Erebus, Antarctica) but also from explosive erup-
tions (e.g., Kasatochi, Alaska; Eyjafjallajökull, Iceland).
Satellite investigations were able to detect BrO in the plumes
of many but not all probed volcanoes, which can likely only
partly be explained by the coarse ground pixels and other
instrumental limitations.
In order to account for the dilution of the plume with
background air, often the ratio of a reactive compound, such as
BrO, and a very unreactive compound such as SO2 is used to
investigate chemical processing in volcanic plumes as taking

this ratio effectively cancels out dilution in the atmosphere. At
several volcanoes the BrO/SO2 ratio in the volcanic plume was
very low near the crater rim but increased with distance (order
of several 10 km). This shows that BrO is being produced in the
early plume. Model calculations confirmed that the bromine
explosion mechanism involving volcanic HBr and acidic
aerosol particles can explain the observed BrO and the rise in
BrO/SO2 ratio. These studies also showed that bromine cannot
be present only as HBr when emitted by the volcano but that
some divergence from thermodynamic equilibrium producing
e.g., Br2 must occur, likely within the crater where oxygen-rich
air is mixed with hot volcanic volatiles, in order to explain the
very rapid rise in the BrO/SO2 ratio.
The global source of bromine from volcanoes is rather
small compared to other sources (see Table 1); however, the
emissions from most volcanoes are directly into the free
troposphere or stratosphere where the atmospheric lifetime of
inorganic bromine is much longer than in the boundary layer.
Ocean: Organic Gases
It is well established that bromine-containing organic gases
(e.g., CH3Br, CHBr3, CH2Br2, CH2IBr) are produced in the
marine environment. Once in the atmosphere these gases are
broken down by photolysis or chemical reactions, which
release reactive bromine. The organic bromine gases have
a wide range of lifetimes in the atmosphere ranging from a year
for CH3Br to weeks for CHBr3 and about 1 h for CH2IBr.
Information on CH3Br, the longest lived of the organic
bromine gases, can be found in Section Stratospheric Chem-
istry and Composition. The most abundant short-lived organic
gases are CHBr3 and CH2Br2 and the formation pathways for
these compounds are believed to be principally biological.
Marine seaweeds and diatoms are known sources of CHBr3
and CH2Br2. The main production pathway is believed to
involve vanadium- or heme-dependent haloperoxidases. These
enzymes catalyze the breakdown of H2O2 through the two-
electron oxidation of bromide yielding hypobromous acid
(HOBr), which can then brominate electron-rich organic
substrates. In marine environments the oxidation of bromide is
primarily catalyzed by bromoperoxidases. The physiological
role of haloperoxidase activity in marine organisms is yet to be
established, but it has been proposed that they are involved in
defense against oxidative stress and/or their inorganic or organic
products act as grazing deterrents. A functional bromoperoxidase
has recently been identified in strains of the marine cyanobac-
terium Synechococcus sp. so these organisms may also be involved
in organic bromine gas formation.
The organic bromine gases are typically found at picomolar
concentrations in seawater with CHBr3 generally found at the
highest concentrations (up to 103 pM). CHBr3 and CH2Br2
have been found to be supersaturated over large areas of the
oceans with their concentrations and emission rates highly
variable over spatial and temporal scales. Mean background
tropospheric mixing ratios of CHBr3 and CH2Br2 are in the
range of 1–2 ppt. Emission source strengths for the organic
bromine gases from the oceans currently have large uncertainty
with estimates ranging from 120 to 1400 Gg Br year
1 for
CHBr3 (note that the upper limit is likely too high) and
57–280 Gg Br year
1 for CH2Br2. On a global scale this is
Biogeochemical Cycles j Bromine 197
considerably lower than that from sea salt aerosol (Table 1),
but the contribution from organic bromine gases to total
inorganic bromine in the atmosphere is likely to be more
important on a regional scale.
Anthropogenic Sources
The main anthropogenic uses of bromine are as flame retardant
(mainly halons), pesticide (mainly CH3Br), and additive to
petrol as an antiknocking agent. Due to its role in stratospheric
ozone depletion the use of halons and anthropogenic
CH3Br has been limited and declined substantially. This is
described in detail in articles Stratospheric Chemistry Topics:
Halogens; Reactive Nitrogen (NOx and Noy); HOx; Hydrogen
Budget; Halogen Sources, Natural (Methyl Bromide and
Related Gases); Overview. Further anthropogenic sources of
bromine include water purification. In some countries bromine
is used as an agent for water purification, but even if drinking
water is mainly chlorinated, bromine will be present as
impurities. The same is true for emissions from cooling towers
where cooling water is treated with halogens to limit algal
growth.
Loss
As mentioned above, inorganic bromine compounds can cycle
very quickly between the gas phase and particulate phase so
that uptake of the fairly unreactive HBr on to particles is not
necessarily the end of the atmospheric life cycle as it can
be released again from particles in reaction cycles such as
the bromine explosion mechanism. Eventually the loss of
bromine compounds however is either through dry deposition
of gases or bromine-containing particles to the surface or wet
deposition (wash out) of particulate bromine or scavenging of
soluble bromine gases by precipitation. Bromine can then be
stored in soils or vegetation, from where it can again be
released to the atmosphere, or is transported to the oceans
through rivers.
The exchange of brominated compounds between the
troposphere and stratosphere is often referred as sink for one
and source for the other atmospheric compartment.
Tropospheric Chemistry
The tropospheric chemistry of bromine is closely linked to that
of chlorine and iodine. Furthermore large similarities are present
to stratospheric bromine chemistry. The cycling between the gas
and condensed phase (such as aerosol particles, cloud droplets,
saline solutions on the surface) is an important element of
halogen cycling. The ‘bromine explosion’ mechanism was
already explained; in the following further important reaction
cycles are shown. X symbolizes a second halogen atom (Cl,
Br, I). Bromine atoms react very quickly with O3 producing BrO:
Br þ O3 / BrO þ O2
Even though this reaction destroys O3, the most likely fate
of BrO is photolysis:
BrO þ hn(þO2) / Br þ O3
198 Biogeochemical Cycles j Bromine

From this reaction sequence it becomes obvious that it is

more helpful to think in terms of the odd oxygen family (Ox ¼
O3 þ O þ O(1D) þ NO2 þ 2NO3 þ 3N2O5 þ HNO4 þ
ClO þ 2Cl2O2 þ 2OClO þ BrO þ IO þ 2OIO) when quan-
tifying ozone loss. Odd oxygen is only lost if the product of
a reaction involving odd oxygen, such as BrO, does not produce
another member of the odd oxygen family. Hence the
following reactions are ‘real’ ozone, or, more precisely, odd
oxygen loss reactions:
BrO þ XO / Br þ X þ O2
or
BrO þ HO2 / HOBr þ O2
Note that in the first reaction two members of Ox are being
destroyed. This reaction also shows the link between various
halogens; the reaction rates of the interhalogenoxide reactions
are very fast, leading to very rapid ozone loss. Halogen-induced
ozone loss has been suggested to be responsible for about
30% of photochemical ozone loss in the marine boundary
layer and 5–20% in the global troposphere. Another cross-
reaction sequence, similar to the bromine explosion, was
shown to occur in the aqueous phase:
Br þ O3 / BrO þ O2
BrO þ HO2 / HOBr þ O2
BrClaq / BrCl
BrCl þ hn / Br þ Cl
Net: O3 þ HO2 þ Cl
þ Hþ þ hn / Cl þ 2O2 þ H2O
Instead of degassing, BrClaq can also undergo the following
sequence, depending on the relative concentrations of Cl

and Br
in the condensed phase, leading to the release of Br2:
BrClaq þ Br
4 Br2,aq þ Cl

Br2,aq / Br2
In regions with high NOx, BrONO2 can constitute a signifi-
cant fraction of gas phase bromine. It can be photolyzed,
decompose or react on surfaces producing HOBr, BrCl, or Br2
depending on the surface it reacts on. Under high NOx condi-
tions the reaction
BrO þ NO / Br þ NO2
can shift the NO to NO2 ratio. Even though this reaction does
not constitute a sink of Ox, it shortcuts the formation of O3 as
under most other circumstances the oxidation of NO to NO2 is
a gain of Ox. HOBr, which is produced in the reaction of BrO
with HO2, can in addition to uptake on a surface also be
photolyzed:

HOBr / HOBraq BrO þ HO2 / HOBr þ O2

þ
HOBraq þ Cl þ H / BrClaq þ H2O HOBr þ hn / OH þ Br

Stratosphere A = 78% (BrO + hv) + 21% (BrO + NO) + 1% other

1(–6) B = 70% (Br + CH2O) + 22% (Br + CH3CHO) + 8% (Br + HO2)

Tropospheric Bry

BrO 3.8 [0.32]

HO2
hv NO2 BrO
O3 A 8.9(–3) 2.4(–4) 2.1(–3) 1.8(–4)
0.17 0.16
HOBr 11 [0.9] 4.8(–4)
BrNO 3 3.1 [0.26]
BrNO 2 Aerosol/
0.76 [0.06] cloud
) 3. Br hv
Ae

hv (–3 8(
ro

NO2 hv 0 –4 1.2(–4) 1.3(–3)

so

3.4(–4) 3.4(–4) 9. )
l

HBr 13 [1.1]
–4 ) 3.8(–4)
.3 (
B6 )
(–4
Br 0.57 [0.048] 2.2 Br 2 6.2 [0.26]
OH 1.1(–3)
hv

6.3(–5) 4.5(–5) 1.3(–5) 2(–6) 2(–6)

Deposition Sea salt aerosol CHBr3 CH2Br2 CH3Br
debromination

Figure 3 Global annual mean budget of tropospheric inorganic bromine (Bry) in a state-of-the-art global atmospheric chemistry transport model
(GEOS-Chem). The main reactions are indicated. Inventories are given as masses (Gg Br), with mixing ratios (pmol mol
1) in square brackets. Rates
are given in units of Gg Br s
1. Read 6.3(
5) as 6.3  10
5. HBr accounts for 55% of Bry loss by deposition. Sea salt aerosol debromination is the
dominant global source of Bry but is mainly confined to the marine boundary layer, where Bry has a short lifetime against deposition. It accounts for
48% of the Bry source in the global free troposphere. From Parrella, J.P., Jacob, D.J., Liang, Q., Zhang, Y., Mickley, L.J., Miller, B., Evans, M.J.,
Yang, X., Pyle, J.A., Theys, N., Van Roozendael, M., 2012. Tropospheric bromine chemistry: implications for present and pre-industrial ozone and
mercury. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 12, 6723–6740, reproduced with permission of the authors.
 Biogeochemical Cycles j Bromine 199

Table 2 Summary of tropospheric measurements of reactive bromine species

Species Location Typical mixing ratios (pmol/mol) Max mixing ratio (pmol/mol)

BrO Arctic BL 5–20 41

Arctic free troposphere 5 10
Summit, Greenland, BL 1–5 5
Antarctic BL 5–20 20
Mace Head (Ireland) 6.5
Brittany, France 7.5
North Atlantic 2.4
Cape Verde Islands 2.5 5.6
Mauritanian Coast 10
Dead Sea, Israel 20–120 200
Great Salt Lake, Utah 6
Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia w22
Tropospheric volcanic plumes w1000
High- and midlatitudes FT 1 1.5
HOBr Arctic BL 10 w260
Br2 Arctic BL 13 w140
Antarctic BL 6 45
Coastal California, USA 2 19
BrCl Arctic BL 5–15 w35
Antarctic BL 1 6
Soluble bromine Arctic BL 10–30 40
Summit, Greenland 4
Brinorg Arctic BL 0–20 80
Off West Africa w6.4
Hawaii 4 9
Atlantic 2–20 64
CH3Br Marine BL 6.5–8 12
Free troposphere 6.5–8 12
CH2Br2 Marine BL 1.1 1.5
Free troposphere 0.86 1.2
CHBr3 Marine BL 1.6 30
Free troposphere 0.5 1.2

BL; boundary layer. After Saiz-Lopez, A., von Glasow, R., 2012. Reactive halogen chemistry in the troposphere. Chemical Society Reviews
41, 6448–6472. See this article for details and references.

This sequence changes the OH to HO2 ratio, which is also

important for ozone formation.
Unlike chlorine atoms, bromine atoms cannot efficiently
attack alkanes so only the reactions with aldehydes such as
HCHO are important links between (oxygenated) volatile
organic compounds and bromine:
Br þ HCHO / HBr þ HCO
BrO is an efficient oxidant of dimethylsulfide (CH3SCH3,
DMS), a biogenic gas released from the oceans:
BrO þ DMS / Br þ DMSO
The breakdown products of DMS can lead to the growth of
existing particles in the atmosphere and under certain condi-
tions the nucleation of new particles. Further links between the
bromine and sulfur cycles have been suggested involving the
oxidation of S(VI) to S(VI) in the aqueous phase.
Strong links between the cycles of mercury and bromine
have been found. Mercury is a toxic gas but in its main atmo-
spheric reservoir, elemental Hg (Hg0), it is mostly harmless and
has a lifetime of about a 1 year. However, if oxidized by OH or
bromine:
Hg þ Br / HgBr
HgBr / Hg þ Br
HgBr þ Br / HgBr2
mercury is rather soluble and the atmospheric lifetime is
reduced to days. Once deposited it can be methylated and enter
the food chain where it accumulates and causes most damage
in species that are higher up in the food chain.
Summary
Bromine has very strong natural (e.g., sea spray aerosol, salty
surfaces in polar spring, volcanoes, salt lakes, organic
brominated gases) and anthropogenic (e.g., halons, CHBr3)
sources. Its chemistry is linked to that of chlorine and iodine.
In the troposphere bromine plays a role for ozone destruc-
tion, DMS and mercury oxidation and in the stratosphere it
plays a key role in ozone destruction.
Figure 3 shows the tropospheric budget of bromine
according to a recent global modeling study. Table 2 provides
an overview of tropospheric measurements of reactive bromine
species.
For stratospheric chemistry, often use is made of the terms
product gas (PG) and source gas (SG). SGs are those that have
not undergone any chemical change since emission whereas
200 Biogeochemical Cycles j Bromine
PGs are breakdown products. The inorganic gases mentioned
here are all PGs but transport into the stratosphere is limited
due to their usually rather large solubilities especially when
compared to organic SGs and PGs. See the Stratospheric
composition and chemistry section for more details.
See also: Biogeochemical Cycles: Biogeochemistry of Iodine.
Stratospheric Chemistry Topics: HOx; Halogen Sources,
Natural (Methyl Bromide and Related Gases); Halogens;
Hydrogen Budget; Overview; Reactive Nitrogen (NOx and NOy).
Further Reading
Abbatt, J.P.D., Thomas, J.L., Abrahamsson, K., Boxe, C., Granfors, A., Jones, A.E.,
King, M.D., Saiz-Lopez, A., Shepson, P.B., Sodeau, J., Toohey, D.W., Toubin, C.,
von Glasow, R., Wren, S.N., Yang, X., 2012. Halogen activation via interactions
with environmental ice and snow. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 12,
6237–6271.
Parrella, J.P., Jacob, D.J., Liang, Q., Zhang, Y., Mickley, L.J., Miller, B., Evans, M.J.,
Yang, X., Pyle, J.A., Theys, N., Van Roozendael, M., 2012. Tropospheric bromine
chemistry: implications for present and pre-industrial ozone and mercury. Atmo-
spheric Chemistry and Physics 12, 6723–6740.
Pyle, D.M., Mather, T.A., 2009. Halogens in igneous processes and their fluxes to the
atmosphere and oceans from volcanic activity: a review. Chem. Geol. 263, 110–121.
Saiz-Lopez, A., von Glasow, R., 2012. Reactive halogen chemistry in the troposphere.
Chemical Society Reviews 41, 6448–6472.
Simpson, W.R., von Glasow, R., Riedel, K., Anderson, P., Ariya, P., Bottenheim, J.,
Burrows, J., Carpenter, L.J., Frieb, U., Goodsite, M.E., Heard, D., Hutterli, M.,
Jacobi, H.-W., Kaleschke, L., Neff, B., Plane, J., Platt, U., Richter, A., Roscoe, H.,
Sander, R., Shepson, P., Sodeau, J., Steffen, A., Wagner, T., Wolff, E., 2007.
Halogens and their role in polar boundary-layer ozone depletion. Atmospheric
Chemistry and Physics 7, 4375–4418.
WMO Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion, 2011. World Meteorological Orga-
nization Global Ozone Research and Monitoring ProjectdReport No. 52, 2011.
Ziska, F., Quack, B., Abrahamsson, K., Archer, S., Atlas, E., Bell, T., Butler, J.,
Carpenter, L.J., Harris, N.R.P., Hepach, H., Heumann, K., Hughes, C., Kuss, J.,
Kruger, K., Liss, P., Moore, R., Orlikowska, A., Raimund, R., Reeves, C.E.,
Reifenhauser, W., Tanhua, T., Teigtmeier, S., Turner, S.M., Wang, L., Wallace, D.,
Williams, J., Yamamoto, Y., Yvon-Lewis, S., Yokouchi, Y., 2013. Global sea-to-air
flux climatology estimates of bromoform, dibromomethane and methyl iodide.
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 13, 8915–8934.