An Introduction to Environmental Chemistry

The concept illustrated in Fig. 7.23 was proposed several years ago, and one
group of proponents went further and suggested that the plankton actually played
a role in regulating, in contrast to affecting, climate. The idea was that if a change
occurred in the temperature of the atmosphere (e.g. due to altered levels of CO 2

Global Change 273

Solar radiation

Cloud

condensation

nuclei

Sulphate

aerosol/MSA

DMS

dimethyl

sulphide

Production

of DMS by

phytoplankton

to the ocean in

rain or snow

Albedo

reflection

Sulphur returned

Fig. 7.23Dimethyl sulphide–cloud condensation nuclei–climate cycle. After Fell and Liss
(1993). Reprinted with permission ofNew Scientist.