A new transient tracer: Measured vertical distribution of CCl2FCClF2 (F‐113) in the North Pacific Subarctic Gyre

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Abstract
The first quantitative marine measurements of trichlorotrifluoroethane (F‐113) were made in the North Pacific subarctic gyre in July of 1986, using a modification of the analytical procedure developed for the transient tracers F‐11 and F‐12 (Gammon et al., 1982; Wisegarver and Cline, 1985). The measured mixed layer concentration was 0.29±0.02 pM/L; the corresponding atmospheric mixing ratio was 35±1 pptv (Rasmussen scale).Below a subsurface maximum both F‐11 and F‐113 were found to fall off exponentially with increasing depth, F‐113 reaching effective blank levels first. The significance of adding F‐113 to the existing suite of measurable oceanic transient tracers rests in the possibility of age‐dating water masses by their (F‐113/F‐11) ratio with near annual resolution for the period since 1977.