TY - JOUR
T1 - Tropical Rains Controlling Deposition of Saharan Dust Across the North Atlantic Ocean
AU - van der Does, Michèlle
AU - Brummer, Geert Jan A.
AU - van Crimpen, Fleur C.J.
AU - Korte, Laura F.
AU - Mahowald, Natalie M.
AU - Merkel, Ute
AU - Yu, Hongbin
AU - Zuidema, Paquita
AU - Stuut, Jan Berend W.
N1 - Funding Information:
This project was funded by NWO (Project 822.01.008, TRAFFIC), and ERC (Project 311152, DUSTTRAFFIC) awarded to J. B. S. The work of U. M. has been performed within the framework of the PalMod project (FKZ: 01LP1508B), supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) as Research for Sustainability initiative (FONA). The CESM experiment was performed with resources provided by the North-German Supercomputing Alliance (HLRN). H. Y. was supported by the NASA CALIPSO/CloudSat project managed by David Considine. The captains, crews, and scientists of FS Meteor cruise M89, RV Pelagia cruises 64PE378 and 64PE395, and NIOZ technicians are thanked for deployment and retrieval of the sediment-trap moorings. Chris Munday, Piet van Gaever, and Juliane Steinhardt are thanked for their assistance in sediment-trap sample processing. The authors thank Joseph M. Prospero for providing the samples collected at Barbados. Claudia Alvarez is thanked for assistance with obtaining the Barbados dust concentrations, and processing of the filters was supported by P. Z. using University of Miami faculty funds. TRMM precipitation data were obtained from the Giovanni online data system, developed and maintained by the NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC).
PY - 2020/3/16
Y1 - 2020/3/16
N2 - Mineral dust plays an important role in the atmospheric radiation budget as well as in the ocean carbon cycle through fertilization and by ballasting of settling organic matter. However, observational records of open-ocean dust deposition are sparse. Here, we present the spatial and temporal evolution of Saharan dust deposition over 2 years from marine sediment traps across the North Atlantic, directly below the core of the Saharan dust plume, with highest dust fluxes observed in summer. We combined the observed deposition fluxes with model simulations and satellite observations and argue that dust deposition in the Atlantic is predominantly controlled by summer rains. The dominant depositional pathway changes from wet deposition in summer to dry deposition in winter. Wet deposition has previously been suggested to increase the release of dust-derived nutrients and their bioavailability, which may be a key contributor to surface-ocean productivity in remote and oligotrophic parts of the oceans.
AB - Mineral dust plays an important role in the atmospheric radiation budget as well as in the ocean carbon cycle through fertilization and by ballasting of settling organic matter. However, observational records of open-ocean dust deposition are sparse. Here, we present the spatial and temporal evolution of Saharan dust deposition over 2 years from marine sediment traps across the North Atlantic, directly below the core of the Saharan dust plume, with highest dust fluxes observed in summer. We combined the observed deposition fluxes with model simulations and satellite observations and argue that dust deposition in the Atlantic is predominantly controlled by summer rains. The dominant depositional pathway changes from wet deposition in summer to dry deposition in winter. Wet deposition has previously been suggested to increase the release of dust-derived nutrients and their bioavailability, which may be a key contributor to surface-ocean productivity in remote and oligotrophic parts of the oceans.
KW - Atlantic Ocean
KW - dust deposition
KW - mineral dust
KW - ocean fertilization
KW - wet deposition
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U2 - 10.1029/2019GL086867
DO - 10.1029/2019GL086867
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85081718962
VL - 47
JO - Geophysical Research Letters
JF - Geophysical Research Letters
SN - 0094-8276
IS - 5
M1 - e2019GL086867
ER -