Download or read book Dimethylsulphide: Oceans, Atmosphere and Climate (1992) written by G. Restelli and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 1993-09-30 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dimethylsulphide (DMS), emitted by marine phytoplankton, is the second most important source of atmospheric sulphur, after anthropogenic SO2. In the atmosphere, DMS is transformed into condensable acidic sulphur products and, through gas-to-particle conversion, it becomes the most important natural source of atmospheric sulphate aerosols. Possible climatic effects have been suggested, linked to the negative radiative forcing due to scattering of solar radiation and especially to modification of cloud albedo over oceans by sulphate aerosol particles. These effects occur in addition to those deriving from the superimposed anthropogenic component of the atmospheric sulphate. Understanding the cycle of DMS in the marine troposphere and its interaction with the aerosol budget and cloud properties has become a key research target in these last years. Our knowledge of the many processes involved is still fragmentary, however. This book, which updates the state of our comprehension of the marine DMS cycle with special regard to its climatic impact, will be of interest to marine biologists, atmospheric chemists, aerosol physicists and climatologists, and to scientists concerned with changes in the Earth's climate.