Modelling the biogeochemical cycle of dimethylsulphide in the upper ocean.

Abstract

Biological feedbacks are extremely important to the understanding and prediction of climate change. Communication and feedback between different parts of the biosphere are mediated to a significant degree by the exchange of radiatively active, biogenic trace gases. One such feedback involves marine plankton and the volatile, sulfur compound dimethylsulfide (DMS). Net DMS production in the upper ocean is a complex function of marine food-web structure and dynamics. DMS is ventilated to the troposphere and is oxidized there to sulfate particles, which can influence the earth's radiation budget. Large-scale climate change affects the marine food-web, thereby potentially closing the feedback loop.