Abstract
Carbonyl sulfide (COS) is the major long-lived sulfur bearing gas in the
atmosphere, and is used to estimate the rates of regional and global
(both past and current) photosynthesis. Sulfur isotope measurements
(34S/32S ratio, δ34S) of COS may offer a way for improved determinations
of atmospheric COS sources. However, measuring the COS δ34S at the
atmospheric concentrations of ~0.5 ppb is challenging.
Here we present high-accuracy δ34S measurements of atmospheric COS done
by gas chromatograph (GC) connected to a multicollector inductively
coupled plasma mass spectrometer (MC-ICPMS), after pre-concentrating
from 2-liters of air. We showed that the precision of COS δ34S
measurement for gas standards is ≤0.2‰, and that N2 and CO2 in the gas
standard mixture had no effect on the measured δ34S. Natural air samples
were collected in Israel and in the Canary Islands. The COS δ34S values
in both locations were found to be 13.2±0.6‰, and are believed to
represent the background tropospheric value. This δ34S value is markedly
different from the previously reported value of 4.9‰. We estimate the
expected isotopic signature of COS sources and sinks, and use the δ34S
value of atmospheric COS we measured to estimate that
~48% of it originates from the ocean.