Plot showing measured atmospheric dust concentrations on 24 buoy filters, aerosol optical depth, and precipitation for two buoys.
Measured atmospheric dust concentrations (bars) on the 24 buoy filters, aerosol optical depth (AOD, from MODIS Terra; solid lines) and precipitation (from TRMM, dashed lines) for buoys M3-C and M4-C in 2015. Credit: van der Does et al. [2021], Figure 6
Source: Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres

Atmospheric circulation carries vast quantities of dust from the Sahara westwards, over the Atlantic Ocean and toward the Caribbean. van der Does et al. (2021) report a unique time series of Saharan dust transport, sampled directly from the atmosphere by surface buoys, and dust deposition, sampled by subsurface sediment traps at two depths along a transect in the tropical North Atlantic Ocean. In particular, this study has revealed important insights in the effects of long-range transport and (dry and wet) deposition of mineral dust on the grain-size distributions and deposition fluxes. It is shown that large differences in dust characteristics exist between transport and deposition, while rain deposits more and coarser dust. The reported unique dust deposition database will be very useful to the global climate modeling community and others.

Citation: van der Does, M., Brummer, G.-J. A., Korte, L. F., & Stuut, J.-B. W. [2021]. Seasonality in Saharan dust across the Atlantic Ocean: From atmospheric transport to seafloor deposition. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 126, e2021JD034614. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JD034614

—Ping Yang, Editor, JGR: Atmospheres

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