Croot, Peter L.

Dammshäuser, Anna

Gaiero, Diego

Heller, Maija

Streu, Peter

Wagener, Thibaut

English

OceanRep

Geophysical Research AbstractsVol. 13, EGU2011-10076, 2011EGU General Assembly 2011© Author(s) 2011Atmospheric supply of Al, Fe and Ti to the Atlantic OceanAnna Dammshäuser (1), Thibaut Wagener (1,2), Diego Gaiero (3), Maija I. Heller (1), Peter Streu (1), Peter L.Croot (1,4)(1) Leibniz-Institute of Marine Sciences, IFM-GEOMAR, Kiel, Germany (adammshaeuser@ifm-geomar.de), (2) Now at:Laboratoire d’Océanographie Physique et Biogéochimique, UMR 6535 - CNRS - Université de la Méditerranée - IRD,Marseille, France, (3) Centro de Investigaciones Geoquímicas y de Procesos de la Superficie, CIGeS, Universidad Nacional deCórdoba, Argentina, (4) Now at: Plymouth Marine Laboratory, PML, Plymouth, United KingdomThe deposition of atmospheric mineral particles is a major supply of Al, Fe and Ti to the open ocean. Due to thelimiting role of Fe in large oceanic areas, the atmospheric input can thus strongly influence oceanic productivity. Bycontrast to Fe, Al and Ti are not considered bioactive and may therefore be used as tracers to assess the atmosphericflux of mineral particles to the surface ocean. In this study, the concomitant supply of atmospherically derivedAl, Fe and Ti to the surface ocean was investigated on a meridional section through the Atlantic Ocean (ANTXXVI-4, Punta-Arenas, Chile, to Bremerhaven, Germany, April-May 2010). This transect covered regions withvery distinct aerosol deposition characteristics: From moderate deposition in the western South Atlantic over lowdeposition in the South Atlantic Gyre to high deposition in the eastern tropical North Atlantic. During the cruise,dissolution experiments were performed with freshly collected aerosol and seawater samples in order to asses theinstantaneous solubility of Al, Fe and Ti. We present a complete dataset of surface seawater, total aerosol andsoluble aerosol Al, Fe and Ti concentrations. The results allow to better constrain the influences of both seawaterand aerosol properties on the dissolution process of Al, Fe and Ti. Moreover, our data from regions with distinctaerosol deposition characteristics reveal relative differences in the dissolution of Al, Fe and Ti. These resultsprovide the unique opportunity to thoroughly evaluate the utilization of both dissolved Al and Ti concentrations astracer for atmospheric inputs. Overall, this study makes an important contribution to better understand the supplyof atmospherically derived trace metals to the open ocean.

Atmospheric supply of Al, Fe and Ti to the Atlantic Ocean

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