Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
www.atmos-chem-phys.net
1680-7316
1680-7324
9
16
2009
10.5194/acp-9-5963-2009
http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/9/5963/2009/
http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/9/5963/2009/acp-9-5963-2009.html
http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/9/5963/2009/acp-9-5963-2009.pdf
5963
5974
2009-08-19
Recent trends in atmospheric methyl bromide: analysis of post-Montreal Protocol variability
S. A. Yvon-Lewis
syvon-lewis@ocean.tamu.edu
E. S. Saltzman
S. A. Montzka
Department of Oceanography, Texas A & M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA
Department of Earth System Science, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
Global Monitoring Division, NOAA/ESRL, Boulder, CO 80305, USA
The atmospheric methyl bromide (CH<sub>3</sub>Br) burden has
declined in recent years, in response to the phaseout of agricultural and
structural fumigation consumption under the amendments to the Montreal
Protocol. The timing and magnitude of this decrease represents an
opportunity to examine our current understanding of atmospheric CH<sub>3</sub>Br
and its budget, response to the phaseout, and response to interannual
variability in biomass burning and global OH. In this study, simulations
obtained from a time-dependent global model of atmospheric CH<sub>3</sub>Br
emissions and uptake are compared to observations from the NOAA flask
network. The model includes a detailed gridded ocean model coupled to a
time-dependant atmospheric 2-box model. The phaseout of CH<sub>3</sub>Br
production for agricultural uses began in 1998, concurrent with the pulse in
biomass burning associated with the 1998 El Niño. The combined effects
of three factors (biomass burning, global OH, and anthropogenic phaseout)
appear to explain most of the observed atmospheric methyl bromide
variability over the 1997–2008 period. The global budget remains imbalanced,
with a large missing source indicated. The missing source does not exhibit a
systematic decline during the phaseout period, and therefore, is not the
result of significantly underestimating non-QPS agricultural CH<sub>3</sub>Br
emissions. The model results suggest that the oceans should be less
undersaturated than before the phaseout began.
Andreae, M. O. and Merlet, P.: Emission of trace gases and aerosols from biomass burning, Global Biogeochem. Cy., 15(4), 955–966, 2001.
Buffin, D.: Methyl bromide exemptions flout rules of Montreal Protocol, Pesticides News, 64, 18–19, 2004.
Clerbaux, C., Cunnold, D. M., Anderson, J., Engel, A., Fraser, P. J., Mahieu, E., Manning, A., Miller, J., Montzka, S. A., Nassar, R., Prinn, R., Reimann, S., Rinsland, C. P., Simmonds, P., Verdonik, D., Weiss, R., Wuebbles, D., and Yokouchi, Y.: Long-lived compounds, Chapter~1 in Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion: 2006, Global Ozone Research and Monitoring Project-Report No 50, World Meteorological Organization, Geneva, 2007.
Cramer, W., Bondeau, A., Woodward, F. I., Prentice, I. C., et al.: Global response of terrestrial ecosystem structure and function to CO<sub>2</sub> and climate change: results from six dynamic global vegetation models, Global Change Biol., 7, 357–373, 2001.
Dimmer, C. H., Simmonds, P. G., Nickless, G., and Bassford, M. R.: Biogenic fluxes of halomethanes from Irish peatland ecosystems, Atmos. Environ., 35, 321–330, 2001.
Erbrecht, T. and Lucht, W.: Impacts of large-scale climatic disturbances on the terrestrial carbon cycle, Carbon Balance Management, 1(7), doi:10.1186/1750-0680-1-7, 2006.
Federal Register: Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Importation of Wood Packaging Material, 69~Federal Register~179, 16~September, 55719–55733, 2004.
Gan, J., Yates, S. R., Ohr, H. D., and Sims, J. J.: Production of methyl bromide by terrestrial higher plants, Geophys. Res. Lett., 25, 3595–3598, 1998.
IPPC: International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures, ISPM No.15., Guidelines for Regulating Wood Packaging Material in International Trade, Secretariat of the International Plant Protection Convention, FAO, Rome, 2002.
King, D. B., Butler, J. H., Yvon-Lewis, S. A., and Cotton, S. A.: Predicting oceanic methyl bromide saturation from SST, Geophys. Res. Lett., 29(24), 2199, doi:10.1029/2002GL016091, 2002.
Lee-Taylor, J. M. and Holland, E. A.: Litter decomposition as a potential natural source of methyl bromide, J. Geophys. Res., 105, 8857–8864, 2000.
Lelieveld, J., Brenninkmeijer, C. A. M., Joeckel, P., Isaksen, I. S. A., Krol, M. C., Mak, J. E., Dlugokencky, E., Montzka, S. A., Novelli, P. C., Peters, W., and Tans, P.P.: New Directions: Watching over tropospheric hydroxyl, Atmos. Environ., 40, 5741–5743, 2006.
MBTOC: United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Methyl Bromide Technical Options Committee (MBTOC) 2006 Assessment of the Alternatives to Methyl Bromide, United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi, 453pp., 2006. (http://ozone.unep.org/teap/Reports/MBTOC/index.shtml)
Matthews, E.: Global vegetation and land use: New high-resolution databases for climate studies, J. Clim. Appl. Meteorol., 22, 474–487, 1983.
Meeson, P. J., Corprew, F. E., McManus, J. M. P., Mayers, D. M., Closs, J. W., Sun, K.-J., Sunday, D. J., and Sellers, P. J.: ISLSCP Initiative I-Global data sets for land-atmosphere models, 1987–1988 (CD-ROM), vol 1–5, USA_NASA_GDAAC_ISLSCP_001-USA_NASA_GDAAC_ ISLSCP_005, http://daac.gsfc.nasa.gov/, Distrib. Active Arch. Cent., Greenbelt, Md., 1995.
Montzka, S. A., Butler, J. H., Hall, B. D., Mondeel, D. J., and Elkins, J. W.: A decline in tropospheric organic bromine, Geophys. Res. Lett., 30, 1826, doi:1810.1029/2003GL017745, 2003.
Montzka, S. A., Fraser, P. J., Butler, J. H., Connell, P. S., Cunnold, D. M., Daniel, J. S., Derwent, R. G., Lal, S., McCulloch, A., Oram, D. E., Reeves, C. E., Sanhueza, E., Steele, L. P., Velders, G. J. M., Weiss, R. F., and Zander, R. J.: Controlled substances and other source gases, Chapter~1 in Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion: 2002, Global Ozone Research and Monitoring Project-Report No 47, World Meteorological Organization, Geneva, 2003.
Nemani, R. R., Keeling, C. D., Hashimoto, H., Jolly, W. M., Piper, S. C., Tucker, C. J., Myneni, R. B., and Running, S. W.: Climate-Driven Increases in global terrestrial net primary production from 1982 to 1999, Science, 300, 1560, doi:10.1126/science.1082750, 2003.
Prinn, R. G., Huang, J., Weiss, R. F., Cunnold, D. M., et al.: Evidence for variability of atmospheric hydroxyl radicals over the past quarter century, Geophys. Res. Lett., 32, L07809, doi:10.1029/2004GL022228, 2005.
Redeker, K. R., Wang, N. Y., Low, J. C., McMillan, A., Tyler, S. C., and Cicerone, R. J.: Emissions of methyl halides and methane from rice paddies, Science, 290, 966–969, 2000.
Reeves, C. E.: Atmospheric budget implications of the temporal and spatial trends in methyl bromide concentration, J. Geophys. Res., 108, 4343, doi:10.1029/2002JD002943, 2003.
Rhew, R. C., Miller, B. R., and Weiss, R. F.: Natural methyl bromide and methyl chloride emissions from coastal salt marshes, Nature, 403, 292–295, 2000.
Rhew, R. C., Miller, B. R., Vollmer, M. K., and Weiss, R. F.: Shrubland fluxes of methyl bromide and methyl chloride, J. Geophys. Res., 106, 20875–20882, 2001.
Saltzman, E. S., Aydin, M., De Bruyn, W. J., King, D. B., and Yvon-Lewis, S. A.: Methyl bromide in preindustrial air: Measurements from an Antarctic ice core, J. Geophys. Res., 109, D05301, doi:10.1029/2003JD004157, 2004.
Sander, S. P., Finlayson-Pitts, B. J., Friedl, R. R., Golden, D. M., Huie, R. E., Keller-Rudek, H., Kolb, C. E., Kurylo, M. J., Molina, M. J., Moortgat, G. K., Orkin, V. L., Ravishankara, A. R. and Wine, P. H.: "Chemical Kinetics and Photochemical Data for Use in Atmospheric Studies, Evaluation Number 15", JPL Publication 06-2, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, 2006.
Sellers, P. J., Meeson, P. W., Closs, J., Collatz, J., et al.: An overview of the ISLSCP Initiative~I global data sets for land-atmosphere models, 1987–1988, vol 1–5, vol 1: USA_NASA_GDAAC_ISLSCP_001, OVERVIEW.DOC, http://daac.gsfc.nasa.gov/, Distrib. Active Arch. Cent., Greenbelt, Md., 1995.
Shorter, J. H., Kolb, C. E., Crill, P. M., Kerwin, R. A., Talbot, R. W., Hines, M. E., and Harriss, R. C.: Rapid degradation of amtopsheric methyl bromide in soils, Nature, 377, 717–719, 1995.
Spivakovsky, C. M., Logan, J. A., Montzka, S. A., Balkanski, Y. J., Foreman-Fowler, M., Jones, D. B. A., Horowitz, L. W., Fusco, A. C., Brenninkmeijer, C. A. M., Prather, M. J., Wofsy, S. C., and McElroy, M. B.: Three-dimensional climatological distribution of tropospheric OH: update and evaluation, J. Geophys. Res., 105, 8931–8980, 2000.
Thomas, V. M., Bedford, J. A., and Cicerone, R. J.: Bromine emissions from leaded gasoline, Geophys. Res. Lett., 24, 1371–1374, 1997.
UNEP: Report of the seventh meeting of the parties to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, United Nations Environmental Program, World Meteorol. Org. (WMO), Geneva, Dec., 1995.
van der Werf, G. R., Randerson, J. T., Collatz, G. J., Giglio, L., Kasibhatla, P. S., Arellano Jr., A. F., Olsen, S. C., and Kasischke, E. S.: Continental-Scale Partitioning of Fire Emissions During the 1997 to 2001 El Niño/La Niña Period, Science, 303, 73–76, 2004.
van der Werf, G. R., Randerson, J. T., Giglio, L., Collatz, G. J., Kasibhatla, P. S., and Arellano Jr., A. F.: Interannual variability in global biomass burning emissions from 1997 to 2004, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 6, 3423–3441, 2006.
Varner, R. K., Crill, P. M., and Talbot, R. W.: Wetlands: a potentially significant source of atmospheric methyl bromide and methyl chloride, Geophys. Res. Lett., 26(16), 2433–2436, 1999.
Warwick, N. J., Pyle, J. A., and Shallcross, D. E.: Global modeling of the atmospheric methyl bromide budget, J. Atmos. Chem., 54, 133–159, doi:10.1007/s10874-006-9020-3, 2006.
Yevich, R. and Logan, J. A.: An assessment of biofuel use and burning of agricultural waste in the developing world, Global Biogeochem. Cy., 17(4), 1095, doi:10.1029/2002GB001952, 2003.
Yokouchi, Y., Toon-Sauntry, D., Yazawa, K., Inagaki, T., and Tamaru, T.: Recent decline of methyl bromide in the troposphere, Atmos. Environ., 36, 4985–4989, 2002.
Yvon-Lewis, S. A. and Butler, J. H.: The potential effect of oceanic biological degradation on the lifetime of atmospheric CH<sub>3</sub>Br, Geophys. Res. Lett., 24, 1227–1230, 1997.
Yvon-Lewis, S. A. and Butler, J. H.: Effect of oceanic uptake on atmospheric lifetimes of selected trace gases, J. Geophys. Res., 107, 4414, doi:10.1029/2001JD001267, 2002.