Methyl Iodide in the Eastern Atlantic Ocean

This map shows the concentration of methyl iodide in the surface waters of the Atlantic Ocean off the west coast of Ireland in May 1997. The concentration increases closer to the shore, probably because the seaweed beds that line this coast are the main source of the gas here. Several other environmentally important gases (dimethyl sulphide, isoprene, ethene) are also produced in this patch of ocean, but they have completely different sources (see Baker et al., 2000).

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