New gas that triggers ozone destruction found

Researchers at the Universities of York and Leeds found that the principal source of iodine oxide can be explained by emissions of hypoiodous acid (HOI) - a gas not yet considered as being released from the ocean - along with a contribution from molecular iodine (I2).

Since the 1970s when methyl iodide (CH3I) was discovered as ubiquitous in the ocean, the presence of iodine in the atmosphere has been understood to arise mainly from emissions of organic compounds from phytoplankton - microscopic marine plants.

The new research, published in Nature Geoscience, builds on an earlier study which showed that reactive iodine, along with bromine, in the atmosphere is responsible for the destruction of vast amounts of ozone