UNDERSATURATION OF CH3BR IN THE SOUTHERN-OCEAN

Dry mole fractions of methyl bromide (CH3Br) in marine boundary layer air and in air equilibrated with surface water were measured in the So uthern Ocean. Saturation anomalies were consistently negative at -36+/ -7%. The observed undersaturations do not support recently published p redictions of highly supersaturated Antarctic waters, but instead sugg est a net uptake of atmospheric CH3Br by cold, productive oceans. The observations do not appear to be supported by known chemical degradati on rates and present strong evidence for an unidentified, oceanic sink mechanism such as biological breakdown. Our estimate for the global, net, oceanic sink for atmospheric methyl bromide remains negative at - 21 (-11 to -32) Gg y(-1).