Concentrations and turnover rates of reduced sulfur compounds in polar and sub-polar marine waters : field application of novel analytical and experimental techniques ...

• Main Author: Asher, Elizabeth Colleen
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2015
• Subjects: Subarctic
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0166363; https://doi.library.ubc.ca/10.14288/1.0166363

Dimethylsulfide (DMS), dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) are ubiquitous in surface marine environments. These reduced sulfur compounds are crucial to the physiological ecology of bacteria and phytoplankton. DMS also has a role in climate regulation, as a source of aerosols that back-scatter incoming solar radiation. This thesis aims to characterize the processes driving DMS/P/O accumulation in polar and sub-polar marine waters. Chapters two and three document DMS/P/O concentrations in surface waters of the Subarctic Northeast Pacific, using automated measurement systems. These studies employed an existing system based on membrane inlet mass spectrometry (MIMS) and a novel automated system for the sequential analysis of DMS/P/O (OSSCAR; see chapter three). DMS/P/O concentrations demonstrate significant spatial variability over a range of scales in both coastal and open ocean waters, revealing relationships with key oceanographic variables. Chapter four describes the first ...