Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

PC18 Biogeochemical Cycles

Date: Thursday, February 15, 2001

Location: Southwest Hall

Toole, D, A, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, USA, dede@icess.ucsb.edu

Siegel, D, A, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, USA, davey@icess.ucsb.edu

Dacey, J, W, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, USA, jdacey@whoi.edu

MODELING OF UPPER OCEAN BIOGENIC SULFUR CYCLING IN THE SARGASSO SEA

The biogenic production of dimethylsulfide (DMS) in the ocean represents more than 50% of the global biogenic flux of atmospheric sulfur. Twice monthly vertical profiles of DMS and particulate and dissolved dimethylsulfoniopropionate were sampled in the Sargasso Sea at Hydrostation S between 1992 and 1994 to isolate relevant processes that contribute to this flux of sulfur. Regressions between in situ water column constituents and sulfur stocks produce poor results indicating that sulfur cycling is regulated by a variety of interdependent physical, chemical, and biological processes. DMS stocks do correlate with optical properties such as colored dissolved organic material concentrations however, suggesting that photo-oxidation is fundamentally driving stocks in this region. This suggests that DMS cycling may be assessed using satellite retrievable quantities. This potential is explored using a foodweb type model of biogenic sulfur driven by extensive time-series data sets collected from the Sargasso Sea at the Bermuda Atlantic Time-Series Study and Hydrostation S sites. Our goal is to use the results of this modeling effort to serve as a basis for satellite algorithms of sea-air DMS flux.

This Session Listing

Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

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