We have derived an empirical calibration of the abundance of S/H as a function of the S _ { 23 } parameter , defined using the bright sulphur lines of [ SII ] and [ SIII ] .
Contrary to what is the case for the widely used O _ { 23 } parameter , the calibration remains single valued up to the abundance values observed in the disk HII regions .
The calibration is based on a large sample of nebulae for which direct determinations of electron temperatures exist and the sulphur chemical abundances can be directly derived .
ICFs , as derived from the [ SIV ] 10.52 \mu emission line ( ISO observations ) , are shown to be well reproduced by Barker ’ s formula for a value of \alpha = 2.5 .
At any rate , only about 30 % of the objects in the sample require ICFs larger than 1.2 .
The use of the proposed calibration opens the possibility of performing abundance analysis with red to IR spectroscopic data using S/H as a metallicity tracer .