Skip to main content
Log in

Summertime Seawater Concentrations of Dimethylsulfide in the Western Indian Ocean: Reconciliation of Fluxes and Spatial Variability with Long-Term Atmospheric Observations

  • Published:
Journal of Atmospheric Chemistry Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Dimethylsulfide (DMS) measurements in the seawater of the subtropical and the temperate western Indian Ocean were conducted for the first time from 3 December to 20 December 1997. In total, 443 surface seawater DMS determinations were performed between 24°–49° S and 50° E–77° E with a frequency of 1 sample every 10 km. An important spatial variability was observed in seawater DMS concentrations with values ranging from 0.9 to 35.8 nM. DMS maxima coincided in most cases with thermal fronts and were in reasonable agreement with mean pigment figures obtained from satellite observations. The deduced DMS fluxes are consistent with long-term observations of atmospheric DMS and rainwater concentrations of nss- SO4= and MSA measured at Amsterdam island (37° S, 77° E); then account for the differences observed in atmospheric DMS concentrations between Amsterdam island and Cape Grim, Indian Ocean monitoring stations.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Andreae, M. O., Elbert, W., and de Mora, S. J., 1995: Biogenic sulfur emissions and aerosols over the tropical South atlantic: 3. Atmospheric dimethylsulfide, aerosols and cloud condensation nuclei, J. Geophys. Res. 100(D6), 11,335–11,356.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ayers, G. P. and Ivey, J. P. 1990: Methanesulfonate in rainwater at Cape Grim, Tasmania, Tellus 40B, 297–307.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ayers G. P., Ivey. J. P., and Gillett R. W., 1991: Coherence between seasonal cycles of dimethyl sulphide. Methanesulphonate and sulphate in marine air, Nature 349, 404–406.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ayers, G. P., Bentley, S. T., Ivey, J. P., and Forgan, B. W., 1995: Dimethylsulfide in marine air at Cape Grim, 41° S, J. Geophys. Res. 100, 21013–21021.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baboukas, E., Sciare, J., Kouvarakis, G., Nguyen, B. C., Mihalopoulos, N., Kanakidou, M., 1996: Processes controlling the composition of precipitation in the Southern Indian Ocean, Proceedings of the 7th European Symposium on Physicochemical Behavior of Atmospheric Pollutants on the Oxidizing Capacity of the Troposphere, Venice, Italy, 2-4 October 1996.

  • Bates, T. S., Cline, J. D., Gammon, R. H., and Kelly-Hansen, S. R., 1987: Regional and seasonal variation of the flux of oceanic dimethylsulfide to the atmosphere, J. Geophys. Res. 92, 2930–2938.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bates, T. S. et al., 1998: Processes controlling the distribution of aerosol particles in the lower marine boundary layer during the First Aerosol Characterization Experiment (ACE 1), J. Geophys. Res. 103(D13), 16,369–36,383.

    Google Scholar 

  • Belkin, I. M. and Gordon A. L., 1996: Southern Ocean fronts from the Greenwich Meridian to Tasmania, J. Geophys. Res. 101(C2), 3675–3696.

    Google Scholar 

  • Belviso, S., Buat-Menard, P., Putaud, J. P., Nguyen, B. C., Claustre, H., and Neveux, J., 1993: Size distribution of dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) in areas of the tropical northeastern Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea, Mar. Chem. 44, 55–71.

    Google Scholar 

  • Belviso, S., Mihalopoulos, N., and Sciare, J., 1998: First Atlantic meridional transect of sea surface DMS concentration along 30° W with 15 km of spatial resolution, Paper presented at EGS XXIII General Assembly, Nice, 20–24 April 1998.

  • Berresheim, H., 1987: Biogenic sulfur emissions from the Subantarctic and Antarctic Oceans, J. Geophys. Res. 92, 13245–13262.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berresheim, H., Andreae, M. O., Ayers, G. P., Gillett, R. W., Merrill, J. T., Davis, V. J., and Chameides, W. L., 1990: Airborne measurements of dimethylsulfide, sulfur dioxide, and aerosol ions over the southern ocean south of Australia, J. Atmos. Chem. 10, 341–370.

    Google Scholar 

  • Charlson, R. J., Lovelock, J. E., Andreae, M. O., Warren, S. G., 1987: Oceanic phytoplank-ton, atmospheric sulphur, cloud albedo and climate, Nature 326, 655–661.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holliday, N. P. and Read, J. F., 1998: Surface oceanic fronts between Africa and Antarctica, Deep-Sea Res. I 45, 217–238.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holligan, P., Turner, S., and Liss, P. S., 1987: Measurements of dimethyl sulphide in frontal regions, Continental Shelf Research 2, 213–224.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hynes, A. J., Wine, P. H., Semmes, D. H., 1986: Kinetics and mechanisms of OH reactions with organic sulfides, J. Phys. Chem. 90, 4148–4156.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kanakidou, M., Dentener, F., and Crutzen, P., 1995: A global three-dimensional study of the fate of HCFCs and HFC-134a in the troposphere, J. Geophys. Res. 100, 18781–18801.

    Google Scholar 

  • Liss, P. S. and Slater, 1974: Flux of gases across the air-sea interface, Nature 247, 181–184.

    Google Scholar 

  • Liss, P. S. and Merlivat, L., 1986: The Role of Air-Sea Exchange in Geochemical Cycling, edited by P. Buat-Ménard, D. Reidel Pub. Co., Dordrecht, pp. 113–127.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mihalopoulos, N., Putaud, J. P., and Nguyen, B. C., 1993: Seasonal variation of methanesulfonic acid in precipitation at Amsterdam island in the southern Indian ocean, Atmos. Environ. 27A, 1909–1916.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mihalopoulos, N., 1989: Contribution a l'etude du cycle biogeochimique de l'oxysulfure de carbone dans l'atmosphere, Ph.D. Thesis, University of Paris 7, p. 197.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mihalopoulos, N., Sciare, J., Baboukas, E., and Nguyen, B. C., 1998: Short-term variability of dimethylsulfide, its oxidation products and Aitken nuclei in the remote marine atmosphere (Amsterdam island, southern Indian ocean), Posters presented for the Joint International Symposium on Global Atmospheric Chemistry, Seattle, U.S.A., 19-25 August 1998.

  • Moody, J. L., Psyenny, A. P. P., Gaudry, A., Keene, W. C., Galloway, J. N., and Polian, G., 1991: Precipitation composition and its variability in the southern Indian Ocean: Amsterdam island, 1980–1987, J. Geophys. Res. 96, 20769–20786.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nguyen, B. C., Bonsang, B., and Gaudry, A., 1983: The role of the ocean in the global atmospheric sulfur cycle, J. Geophys. Res. 88, 10903–10914.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nguyen, B. C., Mihalopoulos, N., and Belviso, S., 1990: Seasonal variation of atmospheric dimethylsulfide at Amsterdam island in the southern Indian Ocean, J. Atmos. Chem. 11, 123–143.

    Google Scholar 

  • Park, Y. H., Gamberoni, L., and Charriaud, E., 1993: Frontal structures, water masses, and circulation in the Crozet basin, J. Geophys. Res. 98, 12361–12385.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saltzman, E. E., King, D. B., Holmen, K., and Leck, C., 1993: Experimental determination of the diffusion coefficient of dimethylsufide in water, J. Geophys. Res. 98, 16,481–16,486.

    Google Scholar 

  • Staubes-Diedrich, R., 1992: Verteilung von Dimethylsulfid, Carbonylsulfid und Schwefelkohlenstoff in ozean und mariner Atmosphäre, Thesis, Frankfurt am Main.

  • Smethie, W. M., Takahashi, T., Chipman, D. W., 1985: Gas exchange and CO2 flux in the tropical Atlantic Ocean determined from 222Rn and pCO2 measurements, J. Geophys. Res. 90(C4), 7005–7022.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner, S. M., Malin, G., Nightingale, P. D., and Lis, P. S., 1996: Seasonal variation of dimethyl sulphide in the North sea and an assessment of fluxes to the atrmosphere, Mar. Chem. 54, 245–262.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wanninkhof, R., 1992: Relationship between gas exchange and wind speed over the ocean, J. Geophys. Res. 97, 7373–7381.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Sciare, J., Mihalopoulos, N. & Nguyen, B.C. Summertime Seawater Concentrations of Dimethylsulfide in the Western Indian Ocean: Reconciliation of Fluxes and Spatial Variability with Long-Term Atmospheric Observations. Journal of Atmospheric Chemistry 32, 357–373 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006132001945

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006132001945

Navigation