Elevated dimethyl sulfide (DMS) concentrations in the sea surface microlayer (SML) have been previously related to DMS air–sea flux anomalies in the southwestern Pacific. To further address this, DMS, its precursor dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP), and ancillary variables were sampled in the SML and also subsurface water at 0.5 m depth (SSW) in different water masses east of New Zealand. Despite high phytoplankton biomass at some stations, the SML chlorophyll a enrichment factor (EF) was low (