es061601e_si_001.pdf (93.81 kB)
Tropospheric Phosphine and Its Sources in Coastal Antarctica
journal contribution
posted on 2006-12-15, 00:00 authored by Renbin Zhu, Deming Kong, Liguang Sun, Jinju Geng, Xiaorong Wang, Dietmar GlindemannEarlier reports show very low concentrations of phosphine
in remote air of the lower troposphere of nonpolar
regions, in the low ng m-3 range during the night and in
the pg m-3 range during daylight around noon. In this study,
abnormally and unexpectedly high phosphine concentrations
(30.0−407.8 ng m-3, 11 locations) were found in polar
air samples collected on Millor Peninsula, eastern Antarctica
and Fildes Peninsula, western Antarctica. The maximum
concentration was measured in the atmosphere of penguin
colonies. Field phosphine emission rates from four
colonies were 8.99 ng m-2 h-1 (skua colony), 9.56 ng m-2
h-1 (gentoo penguin colony), 39.96 ng m-2 h-1 (seal
colony) and 63.58 ng m-2 h-1 (empire penguin colony),
respectively. Our air sampling sites are located downwind
of two large penguin colonies, indicating that penguin
colony emission is the predominant source for atmospheric
PH3 on Millor Peninsula. Laboratory scale incubation of
ornithogenic soils amended by penguin guanos yielded a
maximum PH3 production rate of 0.58 ng kg-1 d-1 specifically
at low temperature (4 °C). Significant concentrations of
phosphine occur in the atmosphere of coastal Antarctica
and confirm the existence of a small gaseous link in
the phosphorus cycle of the Antarctic tundra ecosystem.