A meta-analysis of microcosm experiments shows that dimethyl sulfide (DMS) production in polar waters is insensitive to ocean acidification
<p>Emissions of dimethylsulfide (DMS) from the polar oceans play a key role in atmospheric processes and climate. Therefore, it is important to increase our understanding of how DMS production in these regions may respond to climate change. The polar oceans are particularly vulnerable to ocean...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Copernicus Publications
2020-01-01
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| Series: | Biogeosciences |
| Online Access: | https://www.biogeosciences.net/17/163/2020/bg-17-163-2020.pdf |
| Summary: | <p>Emissions of dimethylsulfide (DMS) from the polar oceans play a
key role in atmospheric processes and climate. Therefore, it is important to
increase our understanding of how DMS production in these regions may
respond to climate change. The polar oceans are particularly vulnerable to
ocean acidification (OA). However, our understanding of the polar DMS
response is limited to two studies conducted in Arctic waters, where in both
cases DMS concentrations decreased with increasing acidity. Here, we report
on our findings from seven summertime shipboard microcosm experiments
undertaken in a variety of locations in the Arctic Ocean and Southern Ocean.
These experiments reveal no significant effects of short-term OA on the net
production of DMS by planktonic communities. This is in contrast to similar
experiments from temperate north-western European shelf waters where surface ocean
communities responded to OA with significant increases in dissolved DMS
concentrations. A meta-analysis of the findings from both temperate and
polar waters (<span class="inline-formula"><i>n</i>=18</span> experiments) reveals clear regional differences in the
DMS response to OA. Based on our findings, we hypothesize that the
differences in DMS response between temperate and polar waters reflect the
natural variability in carbonate chemistry to which the respective
communities of each region may already be adapted. If so, future temperate
oceans could be more sensitive to OA, resulting in an increase in DMS
emissions to the atmosphere, whilst perhaps surprisingly DMS emissions from
the polar oceans may remain relatively unchanged. By demonstrating that DMS
emissions from geographically distinct regions may vary in their response to
OA, our results may facilitate a better understanding of Earth's future
climate. Our study suggests that the way in which processes that generate
DMS respond to OA may be regionally distinct, and this should be taken into
account in predicting future DMS emissions and their influence on Earth's
climate.</p> |
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| ISSN: | 1726-4170 1726-4189 |