Dimethylsulfide (DMS) production in polar oceans is resilient to ocean acidification

• Main Authors: Hopkins, FE, Nightingale, PD, Stephens, JA, Moore, CM, Richier, S, Cripps, G, Archer, SD
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: European Geosciences Union 2018
• Subjects: Atmospheric Sciences; Marine Sciences; Oceanography; Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Southern Ocean; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: http://plymsea.ac.uk/id/eprint/7931/; http://plymsea.ac.uk/id/eprint/7931/1/Hopkins%20et%20al%202018%20Discussions%20ocean%20acidification%20DMS.pdf; https://www.biogeosciences-discuss.net/bg-2018-55/; https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2018-55

Emissions of dimethylsulfide (DMS) from the polar oceans play a key role in atmospheric processes and climate. Therefore, it is important we increase our understanding of how DMS production in these regions may respond to environmental 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 identical experiments from temperate NW 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 (n=18 experiments) reveals clear regional differences in the DMS response to OA. We suggest that these regional differences in DMS response reflect the natural variability in carbonate chemistry to which the respective communities may already be adapted. Future temperate oceans could be more sensitive to OA resulting in a change 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 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.