Bromine activation in the troposphere by the dark reaction of O3 with seawater ice

There is increasing evidence that bromine atoms play a role in tropospheric chemistry in the marine boundary layer, In addition, they are believed to lead to rapid depletion of surface level ozone in the Arctic at polar sunrise. While mechanisms have been proposed for recycling bromine atoms from sea salt particles, the initial reaction(s) leading to the formation of bromine atom precursors is not known. We report here the formation of gaseous Br-2 from the reaction of seawater ice with O-3 in the dark. These observations suggest that this reaction is a potential source of tropospheric photolyzable bromine in high latitude coastal regions in winter. In addition, it may be the source of the photolyzable bromine gas measured recently in the Arctic by Impey et al. (1997), which is believed to be responsible for the ozone destruction at polar sunrise.