Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2009

Abstract

Air/sea fluxes of dimethylsulfide (DMS) were measured by eddy correlation over the Eastern South Pacific Ocean during January 2006. The cruise track extended from Manzanillo, Mexico, along 110 degrees W, to Punta Arenas, Chile. Bulk air and surface ocean DMS levels were also measured and gas transfer coefficients (k(DMS)) were computed. Air and seawater DMS measurements were made using chemical ionization mass spectrometry (API-CIMS) and a gas/liquid membrane equilibrator. Mean surface seawater DMS concentrations were 3.8 +/- 2.2 nM and atmospheric mixing ratios were 340 +/- 370 ppt. The air/sea flux of DMS was uniformly out of the ocean, with an average value of 12 +/- 15 mu mol m(-2) d(-1). Sea surface concentration and flux were highest around 15 degrees S, in a region influenced by shelf waters and lowest around 25 degrees S, in low chlorophyll gyre waters. The DMS gas transfer coefficient exhibited a linear wind speed-dependence over the wind speed range of 1 to 9 m s(-1). This relationship is compared with previously measured estimates of k from DMS, CO2, and dual tracer data from the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean, and with the NOAA/COARE gas transfer model. The model generated slope of k vs. wind speed is at the low end of those observed in previous DMS field studies.

Comments

This article was originally published in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, volume 9, issue 2, in 2009. DOI: 10.5194/acp-9-345-2009

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The authors

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

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