Relating Dimethyl Sulphide and Methanethiol Fluxes to Surface Biota in the South-West Pacific Using Shipboard Air-Sea Interface Tanks

Abstract

Dimethyl sulphide (DMS) and methanethiol (MeSH) emissions from South Pacific surface seawater were determined in deck board Air-Sea Interface Tanks during the Sea2Cloud voyage in March 2020. The measured fluxes from water to headspace (F) varied with water mass type, with lowest fluxes observed with Subtropical and Subantarctic waters and highest fluxes from Frontal waters. Measured DMS fluxes were consistent with fluxes calculated using a two-layer model and seawater DMS concentrations. The MeSH:DMS flux ratio was 11%–18% across the three water mass types, confirming that MeSH may represent a significant unaccounted contribution to the atmospheric sulfur budget, with potentially important implications for marine aerosol formation and growth in models. Combining data from the ASITs and ambient surface seawater identified significant Spearman rank correlations for both dissolved DMS and MeSH with nanophytoplankton cell abundance (p_value < 0.012), suggesting an important role for this phytoplankton size class in determining regional DMS and MeSH emissions. Applying a nanophytoplankton-based parameterization to estimate DMS_w provided good agreement with a recent DMS climatology. Consequently, the observed relationship between DMS_w, MeSH_w and nanophytoplankton cell abundances may be applicable for modeling atmospheric fluxes.