Dimethylsulfide emissions over the multi-year ice of the western Weddell Sea

Abstract

This study, conducted in December 2004, is the first to present observations of DMS in a snow pack covering the multi-year sea ice of the western Weddell Sea. The snow layer is important because it is the interface through which DMS needs to be transported in order to be emitted directly from the ice to the overlying atmosphere. High concentrations of DMS, up to 6000 nmol m−3, were found during the first weeks of December but concentrations sharply decline as late spring-early summer progresses. This implies that DMS contained in sea ice is efficiently vented through the snow into the atmosphere. Indeed, field measurements by relaxed eddy accumulation indicate an average release of 11 μmol DMS m−2 d−1 from the ice and snow throughout December.