Dimethylsulfide (DMS), a gas produced by marine microbial food webs, promotes aerosol formation in pristine atmospheres, altering cloud radiative forcing and precipitation. Recent studies suggest that DMS controls aerosol formation in the summertime Arctic atmosphere and call for an assessment of pan-Arctic DMS emission (EDMS) in a context of dramatic ecosystem changes. Using a remote sensing algorithm, we show that summertime EDMS from ice-free waters increased at a mean rate of 13.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDimethylsulfide (DMS), a dominant organic sulfur species in the surface ocean, may act as a signalling molecule and contribute to mutualistic interactions between bacteria and marine algae. These proposed functions depend on the DMS concentration in the vicinity of microorganisms. Here, we modelled the DMS enrichment at the surface of DMS-releasing marine algal cells as a function of DMS production rate, algal cell radius and turbulence.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhotolysis is a major removal pathway for the biogenic gas dimethylsulfide (DMS) in the surface ocean. Here we tested the hypothesis that apparent quantum yields (AQY) for DMS photolysis varied according to the quantity and quality of its photosensitizers, chiefly chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) and nitrate. AQY compiled from the literature and unpublished studies ranged across 3 orders of magnitude at the 330 nm reference wavelength.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLittle information is available on the energetics of buoyancy modulation in aflagellate phytoplankton, which comprises the majority of autotrophic cells found in the ocean. Here, we computed for three aflagellate species of marine phytoplankton (Emiliania huxleyi, Thalassiosira pseudonana, and Ethmodiscus rex) the theoretical minimum energy cost as photons absorbed and nitrogen resource required of the key physiological mechanisms (i.e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIron supply has a key role in stimulating phytoplankton blooms in high-nitrate low-chlorophyll oceanic waters. However, the fate of the carbon fixed by these blooms, and how efficiently it is exported into the ocean's interior, remains largely unknown. Here we report on the decline and fate of an iron-stimulated diatom bloom in the Gulf of Alaska.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA 7-day mesocosm experiment was conducted in July 1996 to investigate the effects of ambient UV-B radiation (UVBR) exclusion and two UVBR enhancements above ambient levels on NO , NH and urea utilization in a natural plankton community (<240 μm) from the Lower St. Lawrence Estuary. The phytoplankton community was dominated by diatoms during the first 3 days and, afterward, by flagellates and dinoflagellates.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF