Dimethyl sulfide (DMS) was measured in surface seawater samples collected between Tasmania and Antarctica in the Australasian sector of the southern ocean during the 1988--1989 austral summer. The mean DMS concentration in subantarctic waters for January was 20.5 nmol L-1 decreasing to 4.0 nmol L-1 in the Antarctic Convergence. During December and January the Australasian Antarctic Divergence appears to be an area of high primary productivity as the concentration of DMS in these surface waters remained relatively constant at 18.5 nmol L-1. Samples collected on the shelf and in coastal waters of Prydz Bay, East Antarctica, show a distinct rise in DMS concentration on all voyages with a maximum concentration of 122 nmol L-1 recorded in January near Davis. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1992