Stimulation of gross dimethylsulfide (DMS) production by solar radiation

Abstract

Oceanic gross DMS production (GP) exerts a fundamental control on the concentration and the sea-air flux of this climatically-active trace gas. However, it is a poorly constrained process, owing to the complexity of the microbial food web processes involved and their interplay with physical forcing, particularly with solar radiation. The "inhibitor method", using dimethyldisulfide (DMDS) or other compounds to inhibit bacterial DMS consumption, has been frequently used to determine GP in dark incubations. In the work presented here, DMDS addition was optimized for its use in light incubations. By comparing simultaneous dark and light measurements of GP in meso-to ultraoligotrophic waters, we found a significant enhancement of GP in natural sunlight in 7 out of 10 experiments. Such stimulation, which was generally between 30 and 80% on a daily basis, occurred throughout contrasting microbial communities and oceanographic settings. Copyright 2011 by the American Geophysical Union.