LIVERMORE, Calif., June 23 (UPI) -- An organic compound with a cabbage-like smell responsible for the distinctive "smell of the sea" could be sensitive to climate change, U.S. researchers say.
Researchers from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory say computer modeling suggests amounts of the compound dimethyl sulfide could fluctuate in certain parts of the ocean, increasing in some areas while decreasing in others, in response to climate change caused by the world's ongoing fossil-fuel dependency, an LLNL release reported Thursday.
DMS is a sulfur-containing compound that affects the heat balance of Earth, affecting cloud condensation in the marine boundary layer over much of the remote ocean.
DMS is produced by marine plankton and represents the globe's largest source of natural sulfur emissions. Once in the atmosphere it can reflect sunlight and stimulate cloud formation.
"We found that DMS is locally much more sensitive to climate change than in previous modeling studies," LLNL's Philip Cameron-Smith said. "The shift in emissions will change the heating patterns."
Climate warming could affect the plankton community and further alter the levels of DMS, researchers said.
