@article{64311dce337843e5b1fd8ccd5a76c44c,
title = "Atmospheric Transport of North African Dust-Bearing Supermicron Freshwater Diatoms to South America: Implications for Iron Transport to the Equatorial North Atlantic Ocean",
abstract = "The equatorial North Atlantic Ocean (NAO) is a nutrient-limited ecosystem that relies on the deposition of long-range transported iron (Fe)-containing aerosols to stimulate primary productivity. Using microscopy, we characterized supermicron and supercoarse mode African aerosols transported to the western NAO in boreal winter/spring. We detected three particle types including African dust, primary biological aerosol particles, and freshwater diatoms (FDs). FDs contained 4% Fe by weight due to surficial dust inclusions that may be susceptible to chemical processing and dissolution. FDs were typically larger than dust particles and comprised 38% of particles between 10 and 18 μm in diameter. The low density, high surface-area-to-volume ratio, and large aspect ratios of FD particles suggest a mechanism by which they can be carried great distances aloft. These same properties likely increase the residence time of FDs in surface waters thereby increasing the time for Fe dissolution and their potential impact on marine biogeochemical cycles.",
keywords = "aerosol, diatoms, dust, iron, supercoarse mode",
author = "Barkley, {Anne E.} and Olson, {Nicole E.} and Prospero, {Joseph M.} and Alexandre Gatineau and Kathy Panechou and Maynard, {Nancy G.} and Patricia Blackwelder and Swarup China and Ault, {Andrew P.} and Gaston, {Cassandra J.}",
note = "Funding Information: We thank ATMO-Guyane for collecting samples in Cayenne, French Guiana (https://www.atmo-guyane.org/). The authors acknowledge the NOAA Air Resources Laboratory (ARL) for the provision of the HYSPLIT transport and dispersion model and READY website (https://www.ready.noaa.gov/HYSPLIT.php). Cassandra J. Gaston acknowledges funding provided by the Provost Award from the University of Miami and an NSF CAREER award (AGS-1944958). Some microscopy analyses were performed at the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (user proposal #50816), a national scientific user facility located at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and sponsored by the Office of Biological and Environmental Research of the U.S. Department of Energy. The authors acknowledge the Michigan Center for Materials Characterization (MC2) for use of the instruments and staff assistance. We thank Johann Engelbrecht (Desert Research Institute) for the sample from the Bod?l? Depression as well as the two anonymous reviewers whose suggestions greatly improved this manuscript. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.",
year = "2021",
month = mar,
day = "16",
doi = "10.1029/2020GL090476",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "48",
journal = "Geophysical Research Letters",
issn = "0094-8276",
publisher = "American Geophysical Union",
number = "5",
}