HR: 0830h
AN: B21F-0771    [PDF]
TI: Episodic Dust Passage and Phytoplankton Blooms in North Pacific Ocean
AU: * Meskhidze, N
EM: nmeskhidze@eas.gatech.edu
AF: Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, 311 Ferst Drive, Atlanta, GA 30332 United States
AU: Chameides, W L
EM: wcham@eas.gatech.edu
AF: Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, 311 Ferst Drive, Atlanta, GA 30332 United States
AU: Nenes, A
EM: nenes@eas.gatech.edu
AF: Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, 311 Ferst Drive, Atlanta, GA 30332 United States
AU: Nenes, A
EM: nenes@eas.gatech.edu
AF: Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, 311 Ferst Drive, Atlanta, GA 30332 United States
AB: Bioavailability of iron (Fe) has been hypothesized to play a key role in limiting phytoplankton productivity in much of the world's ocean, particularly in high-nitrate low-chlorophyll (HNLC) regions such as the subarctic North Pacific. The transport and deposition of mineral dust from arid and semi-arid continental regions is believed to be a major mechanism by which Fe is delivered to the surface waters of the remote ocean. This source of oceanic Fe is particularly vital for HNLC waters of subarctic North Pacific; therefore, it is an appropriate region for examining the effects of episodic dust deposition from the Asian continent on phytoplankton blooms. In this work, satellite imagery is used to identify specific mineral dust events from East Asia, track their trajectories across the Pacific Ocean and determine if the passage of these dust plumes across the North Pacific Ocean can be correlated with the occurrence of a chlorophyll a pulse. Lagrangian box model calculations are also used to estimate the likely input of bioavailable Fe to the surface waters of the North Pacific Ocean during these dust events.
DE: 0305 Aerosols and particles (0345, 4801)
DE: 0312 Air/sea constituent fluxes (3339, 4504)
DE: 0315 Biosphere/atmosphere interactions
DE: 1615 Biogeochemical processes (4805)
DE: 4845 Nutrients and nutrient cycling
SC: Biogeosciences [B]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting