Title: Fractional solubility of aerosol iron : synthesis of a global-scale data set [revised]

Type Dataset Sholkovitz, Edward R., Sedwick, Peter N., Church, Thomas M., Baker, Alexander R., Powell, Claire F. (2012-03-26): Fractional solubility of aerosol iron : synthesis of a global-scale data set [revised]. Dataset. https://darchive.mblwhoilibrary.org/handle/1912/5104

Authors: Sholkovitz, Edward R. ; Sedwick, Peter N. ; Church, Thomas M. ; Baker, Alexander R. ; Powell, Claire F. ;

Links

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Summary

Aerosol deposition provides a major input of the essential micronutrient iron to the open ocean. A critical parameter with respect to biological availability is the proportion of aerosol iron that enters the oceanic dissolved iron pool – the so-called fractional solubility of aerosol iron (%FeS). Here we present a global-scale compilation of total aerosol iron loading (FeT) and estimated %FeS values for ~1100 samples collected over the open ocean, the coastal ocean, and some continental sites, including a new data set from the Atlantic Ocean. Despite the wide variety of methods that have been used to define 'soluble' aerosol iron, our global-scale compilation reveals a remarkably consistent trend in the fractional solubility of aerosol iron as a function of total aerosol iron loading, with the great bulk of the data defining an hyperbolic trend. The hyperbolic trends that we observe for both global- and regional-scale data are adequately described by a simple two-component mixing model, whereby the fractional solubility of iron in the bulk aerosol reflects the conservative mixing of 'lithogenic' mineral dust (high FeT and low %FeS) and non-lithogenic 'combustion' aerosols (low FeT and high %FeS). An increasing body of empirical and model-based evidence points to anthropogenic fuel combustion as the major source of these non-lithogenic 'combustion' aerosols, implying that human emissions are a major determinant of the fractional solubility of iron in marine aerosols. The robust global-scale relationship between %FeS and FeT provides a simple heuristic method for estimating aerosol iron solubility at the regional to global scale.

More information

• URI: https://hdl.handle.net/1912/5104
• DOI: 10.1575/1912/5104

Dates

• accessioned: March 26, 2012
• available: March 26, 2012
• Publication date: March 26, 2012

Format

electronic resource

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