Open AccessModeling dust and soluble iron deposition to the South Atlantic Ocean
Author(s) -
Johnson Matthew S.,
Meskhidze Nicholas,
Solmon Fabien,
Gassó Santiago,
Chuang Patrick Y.,
Gaiero Diego M.,
Yantosca Robert M.,
Wu Shiliang,
Wang Yuxuan,
Carouge Claire
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: atmospheres
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.67
H-Index - 298
eISSN - 2156-2202
pISSN - 0148-0227
DOI - 10.1029/2009jd013311
Subject(s) - mineral dust , deposition (geology) , alkalinity , environmental science , dissolution , environmental chemistry , plume , atmospheric sciences , mineralogy , chemical transport model , nitrate , aerosol , geology , troposphere , chemistry , sediment , meteorology , geomorphology , physics , organic chemistry
The global chemical transport model GEOS‐Chem, implemented with a dust‐iron dissolution scheme, was used to analyze the magnitude and spatial distribution of mineral dust and soluble‐iron (sol‐Fe) deposition to the South Atlantic Ocean (SAO). The comparison of model results with remotely sensed data shows that GEOS‐Chem can capture dust source regions in Patagonia and characterize the temporal variability of dust outflow. For a year‐long model simulation, 22 Tg of mineral dust and 4 Gg of sol‐Fe were deposited to the surface waters of the entire SAO region, with roughly 30% of this dust and sol‐Fe predicted to be deposited to possible high nitrate low chlorophyll oceanic regions. Model‐predicted dissolved iron fraction of mineral dust over the SAO was small, on average only accounting for 0.57% of total iron. Simulations suggest that the primary reason for such a small fraction of sol‐Fe is the low ambient concentrations of acidic trace gases available for mixing with dust plumes. Overall, the amount of acid added to the deliquesced aerosol solution was not enough to overcome the alkalinity buffer of Patagonian dust and initiate considerable acid dissolution of mineral‐iron. Sensitivity studies show that the amount of sol‐Fe deposited to the SAO was largely controlled by the initial amount of sol‐Fe at the source region, with limited contribution from the spatial variability of Patagonian‐desert topsoil mineralogy and natural sources of acidic trace gases. Simulations suggest that Patagonian dust should have a minor effect on biological productivity in the SAO.