Saharan dust from a marine perspective: transport and deposition along a transect in the Atlantic Ocean
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| Abstract |
Saharan dust is transported in great quantities across the Atlantic Ocean, and a large part is deposited before it reaches the Caribbean. However, little is known about this dust deposition across the entire Atlantic, and the physical characteristics of the particles involved. Therefore, a transect of subsurface sediment traps and dust-collecting buoys was deployed, which provides a unique opportunity to study dust deposition in a spatial and temporal high resolution over multiple years. In this thesis dust deposition fluxes and atmospheric dust concentrations along the transect, particle size of the dust and their downwind trends are described. In addition, evidence that giant mineral dust particles (>75 μm) are blown all the way across the ocean is given, transported over thousands of kilometres, which is explained with a range of possible mechanisms. Also, a possible influence of Amazon River sediments to the western sediment traps by means of geochemical analysis is investigated. |
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