We have examined differences in regional and seasonal variability among seven global climatologies of sea‐surface dimethyl sulfide (DMS) concentrations. We found large differences between recent climatologies and that typically used by most atmospheric sulfur models. The relative uncertainty (1σ/mean) in the latitudinal distribution of the annual mean DMS concentration increases from about 50% in tropical and temperate regions to nearly 100% in the high latitudes. We also compared these climatologies to new measurements in the North Atlantic Ocean taken during the 2001 Programme Océan Multidisciplinaire Méso Echelle (POMME) expeditions.