Study on the analysis and distribution of dimethyl sulfide in the East China Sea

Abstract

A method is described for determining dimethyl sulfide (DMS) in seawater. DMS was first extracted from the seawater using organic reagent, then reverse-extracted by 5% HgCl2. In the laboratory, DMS was released by concentrated HCl and finally measured by GC-FPD. The limit of detection was 0.05 ng of S. Measurements of DMS along surface transects and on vertical profiles across the East China Sea (ECS) continental shelf showed that its concentrations of S in the surface seawater ranged from 64–180 ng/L and that its vertical distribution was divided into 3 types. Model calculations of a stagnant film show a DMS flux of 10.6 μmol/m2d across the air-sea interface.