Measurement of the sea-air DMS flux and transfer velocity using eddy correlation

Abstract

We report the successful eddy-correlation (EC) measurement of dimethyl sulfide (DMS) fluxes using an atmospheric pressure ionization mass spectrometer (APIMS). Calculated hourly transfer velocities span the range of two widely used parameterizations. The results suggest that factors in addition to wind speed also control the flux, but some of the scatter in each wind speed interval is no doubt due to measurement uncertainties. We can at last measure the flux of a marine biogenic gas on a time scale of tens of minutes, with an accuracy of tens of percent. This enables investigations into the physical controls of air-sea gas transfer common to many important trace gas species. Copyright 2004 by the American Geophysical Union.