For
the past few years, short-lived unsaturated halocarbons have
been marketed as environmentally friendly replacements for long-lived
halogenated greenhouse gases and ozone-depleting substances. The phase-in
of unsaturated halocarbons for various applications, such as refrigeration
and foam blowing, can be tracked by their emergence and increase in
the atmosphere. We present the first atmospheric measurements of the
hydrofluoroolefin (HFO) HFO-1336mzz(Z) ((Z)-1,1,1,4,4,4-hexafluoro-2-butene, cis-CF3CHCHCF3), a newly used unsaturated
hydrofluorocarbon. HFO-1336mzz(Z) has been detected
in >90% of all measurements since 2018 during multi-month campaigns
at three Swiss and one Dutch location. Since 2019, it is found in
∼30% of all measurements that run continuously at the Swiss
high-altitude Jungfraujoch station. During pollution events, mole
fractions of up to ∼10 ppt were observed. Based on our measurements,
Swiss and Dutch emissions were estimated at 2–7 Mg yr–1 (2019–2021) and 30 Mg yr–1 (2022), respectively.
Modeled spatial emission distributions only partly conform to population
density in both countries. Monitoring the presence of new unsaturated
halocarbons in the atmosphere is crucial since long-term effects of
their degradation products are still debated. Furthermore, the production
of HFOs involves climate-active substances, which may leak to the
atmospherein the case of HFO-1336mzz(Z),
for example, the ozone-depleting CFC-113a (CF3CCl3).