Modeling the Impact of Marine DMS Emissions on Summertime Air Quality Over the Coastal East China Seas

Biogenic emission of dimethyl sulfide (DMS) from seawater is the major natural source of sulfur into the atmosphere. In this study, we use an advanced air quality model (CMAQv5.2) with DMS chemistry to examine the impact of DMS emissions from seawater on summertime air quality over China. A national scale database of DMS concentration in seawater is established based on a 5‐year observational record in the East China seas including the Bohai Sea, the Yellow Sea, and the East China Sea. We employ a commonly used global database and also the newly developed local database of oceanic DMS concentration, calculate DMS emissions using three different parameterization schemes, and perform five different model simulations for July, 2018. Results indicate that in large coastal areas of China, the average DMS emissions flux obtained with the local database is 3 times higher than that resulting from the global database, with a mean value of 9.1 μmol m−2 day−1 in the Bohai Sea, 8.4 μmol m−2 day−1 in the Yellow Sea, and 13.4 μmol m−2 day−1 in the East China Sea. The total DMS emissions flux calculated with the Nightingale scheme is 42% higher than that obtained with the Liss and Merlivat scheme but is 15% lower than that obtained with the Wanninkhof scheme. Among the three parameterizations, results of the Liss and Merlivat scheme agree better with the ship‐based observations over China's coastal waters. DMS emissions with the Liss and Merlivat parametrization increase atmospheric sulfur dioxide (SO2) and sulfate (SO42−) concentration over the East China seas by 6.4% and 3.3%, respectively. Our results indicate that although the anthropogenic source is still the dominant contributor of atmospheric sulfur burden in China, biogenic DMS emissions source is nonnegligible. Key Points The use of local database better reproduces DMS emission fluxes over China's seawater The LM86 parameterization (Liss & Merlivat, 1986, https://doi.org/10.1007/978‐94‐009‐4738‐2_5) produces the best performance among the three tested schemes in China's offshore waters The marine DMS emissions increase SO2 and SO42‐ in the atmosphere of the eastern China Sea