Tropical Rains Controlling Deposition of Saharan Dust Across the North Atlantic Ocean

Michèlle van der Does; Geert Jan A. Brummer; Fleur C.J. van Crimpen; Laura F. Korte; Natalie M. Mahowald; Ute Merkel; Hongbin Yu; Paquita Zuidema; Jan Berend W. Stuut

doi:10.1029/2019GL086867

Tropical Rains Controlling Deposition of Saharan Dust Across the North Atlantic Ocean

Michèlle van der Does^*
, Geert Jan A. Brummer
, Fleur C.J. van Crimpen
, Laura F. Korte
, Natalie M. Mahowald
, Ute Merkel
, Hongbin Yu
, Paquita Zuidema
, Jan Berend W. Stuut

^*Corresponding author for this work

Earth and Climate

Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

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Abstract

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.

Original language	English
Article number	e2019GL086867
Pages (from-to)	1-10
Number of pages	10
Journal	Geophysical Research Letters
Volume	47
Issue number	5
Early online date	25 Feb 2020
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL086867
Publication status	Published - 16 Mar 2020

Funding

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). 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 cruise M89, RV 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). Meteor Pelagia

Funders	Funder number
Koninklijk Nederlands Instituut voor Onderzoek der Zee
Seventh Framework Programme
Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung
University of Miami
North-German Supercomputing Alliance
HLRN
NWO	822.01.008
European Research Council	01LP1508B
National Aeronautics and Space Administration	64PE378, 64PE395
European Commission	311152

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 14 Life Below Water

Keywords

Atlantic Ocean
dust deposition
mineral dust
ocean fertilization
wet deposition

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10.1029/2019GL086867

Geophysical Research Letters - 2020 - Does - Tropical Rains Controlling Deposition of Saharan Dust Across the NorthFinal published version, 6.2 MBLicence: Article 25fa Dutch Copyright Act

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title = "Tropical Rains Controlling Deposition of Saharan Dust Across the North Atlantic Ocean",

abstract = "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.",

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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.

PY - 2020/3/16

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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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Tropical Rains Controlling Deposition of Saharan Dust Across the North Atlantic Ocean

Abstract

Funding

UN SDGs

Keywords

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