How well can we quantify dust deposition to the ocean?

• Published in: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences
• Main Authors: Anderson, R. F., Cheng, H., Edwards, R. L., Fleisher, M. Q., Hayes, C. T., Huang, K.-F., Kadko, D., Lam, P. J., Landing, W. M., Lao, Y., Lu, Y., Measures, C. I., Moran, S. B., Morton, P. L., Ohnemus, D. C., Robinson, L. F., Shelley, R. U.
• Other Authors: Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO), Columbia University New York, Institute of Global Environmental Change China (IGEC), Xi'an Jiaotong University (Xjtu), Department of Earth Sciences Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Twin Cities (UMN), University of Minnesota System (UMN)-University of Minnesota System (UMN), University of Southern Mississippi (USM), Academia Sinica, Florida International University Miami (FIU), University of California Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz), University of California (UC), Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science Tallahassee (FSU, Florida State University Tallahassee (FSU), Department of Oceanography Honolulu, University of Hawai‘i Mānoa (UHM), University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF), Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, University of Bristol Bristol, Laboratoire des Sciences de l'Environnement Marin (LEMAR) (LEMAR), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER)-Université de Brest (UBO)-Institut Universitaire Européen de la Mer (IUEM), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Brest (UBO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Brest (UBO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2016
• Subjects: north-atlantic transect; global distribution; ACL; Aerosols; be-7 measurements; biogeochemical cycles; boundary current systems; chibido; deep-ocean; Dust; equatorial pacific; GEOTRACES; northeast tropical Atlantic; pacific-ocean; particle fluxes; thorium isotopes; [SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology; [SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean; Atmosphere; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-01483210; https://hal.science/hal-01483210/document; https://hal.science/hal-01483210/file/rsta.2015.0285.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2015.0285

WOS:000391139900001 International audience Deposition of continental mineral aerosols (dust) in the Eastern Tropical North Atlantic Ocean, between the coast of Africa and the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, was estimated using several strategies based on the measurement of aerosols, trace metals dissolved in seawater, particulate material filtered from the water column, particles collected by sediment traps and sediments. Most of the data used in this synthesis involve samples collected during US GEOTRACES expeditions in 2010 and 2011, although some results from the literature are also used. Dust deposition generated by a global model serves as a reference against which the results from each observational strategy are compared. Observation-based dust fluxes disagree with one another by as much as two orders of magnitude, although most of the methods produce results that are consistent with the reference model to within a factor of 5. The large range of estimates indicates that further work is needed to reduce uncertainties associated with each method before it can be applied routinely to map dust deposition to the ocean. Calculated dust deposition using observational strategies thought to have the smallest uncertainties is lower than the reference model by a factor of 2-5, suggesting that the model may overestimate dust deposition in our study area. This article is part of the themed issue 'Biological and climatic impacts of ocean trace element chemistry'.