Seawater albedo

The putative feedback involves the influence of emissions of this aerosolgenic gas, (CH3)2S, that influences cloud albedo and hence either the temperature of the seawater in which the phytoplankton live or the amount of light available for their photosynthesis. Figure 17-9 represents the hypothetical feedback loop, and emphasizes that even the sign of the feedback is not known. Contradictory evidence has been developed... 

Dimethyl sulphide is the most dominant of the reduced sulphur gas found in surface layers of the ocean (Lovelock et al. 1972). The emission of dimethyl sulphide from seawater is expected to balance the excess sulphur deposition over the remote oceans (Charlson et al. 1992). Charlson et al. (1987) proposed a hypothesis, known as the CLAW (after the authors Charlson, Lovelock, Andreae and Warren) hypothesis connecting biogenic DMS emissions to changes in albedo, in which increased production of DMS due to global warming is expected to lead to more sulphate aerosols and subsequently to more cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) that in turn enhances back radiation. 

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