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1. Does Sea Spray Aerosol Contribute Significantly to Aerosol Trace Element Loading? A Case Study From the U.S. GEOTRACES Pacific Meridional Transect (GP15)

   https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GB007416  

   Marsay, Chris M.; Landing, William M.; Umstead, Devon; Till, Claire P.; Freiberger, Robert; Fitzsimmons, Jessica N.; Lanning, Nathan T.; Shiller, Alan M.; Hatta, Mariko; Chmiel, Rebecca; et al (August 2022, Global Biogeochemical Cycles)

   Abstract Atmospheric deposition represents a major input for micronutrient trace elements (TEs) to the surface ocean and is often quantified indirectly through measurements of aerosol TE concentrations. Sea spray aerosol (SSA) dominates aerosol mass concentration over much of the global ocean, but few studies have assessed its contribution to aerosol TE loading, which could result in overestimates of “new” TE inputs. Low‐mineral aerosol concentrations measured during the U.S. GEOTRACES Pacific Meridional Transect (GP15; 152°W, 56°N to 20°S), along with concurrent towfish sampling of surface seawater, provided an opportunity to investigate this aspect of TE biogeochemical cycling. Central Pacific Ocean surface seawater Al, V, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, and Pb concentrations were combined with aerosol Na data to calculate a “recycled” SSA contribution to aerosol TE loading. Only vanadium was calculated to have a SSA contribution averaging >1% along the transect (mean of 1.5%). We derive scaling factors from previous studies on TE enrichments in the sea surface microlayer and in freshly produced SSA to assess the broader potential for SSA contributions to aerosol TE loading. Maximum applied scaling factors suggest that SSA could contribute significantly to the aerosol loading of some elements (notably V, Cu, and Pb), while for others (e.g., Fe and Al), SSA contributions largely remained <1%. Our study highlights that a lack of focused measurements of TEs in SSA limits our ability to quantify this component of marine aerosol loading and the associated potential for overestimating new TE inputs from atmospheric deposition. 

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2. ²¹⁰ Pb and ⁷ Be as Coupled Flux and Source Tracers for Aerosols in the Pacific Ocean

   https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GB007378  

   Wei, Ziran; Cochran, J. Kirk; Horowitz, Evan; Fitzgerald, Patrick; Heilbrun, Christina; Kadko, David; Stephens, Mark; Marsay, Chris M.; Buck, Clifton S.; Landing, William M. (August 2022, Global Biogeochemical Cycles)

   Abstract Deposition of aerosols to the surface ocean is an important factor affecting primary production in the surface ocean. However, the sources and fluxes of aerosols and associated trace elements remain poorly defined. Aerosol²¹⁰Pb,²¹⁰Po, and⁷Be data were collected on US GEOTRACES cruise GP15 (Pacific Meridional Transect, 152°W; 2018).²¹⁰Pb fluxes are low close to the Alaskan margin, increase to a maximum at ∼43°N, then decrease to lower values. There is good agreement between²¹⁰Pb fluxes and long‐term land‐based fluxes during the SEAREX program (1970–1980s), as well as between GP15 and GP16 (East Pacific Zonal Transect, 12°S; 2013) at adjacent stations. A normalized fractionf(⁷Be,²¹⁰Pb) is used to discern aerosols with upper (highf) versus lower (lowf) troposphere sources. Alaskan/North Pacific aerosols show significant continental influence while equatorial/South Pacific aerosols are supplied to the marine boundary layer from the upper troposphere. Lithogenic trace elements Al and Ti show inverse correlations withf(⁷Be,²¹⁰Pb), supporting a continental boundary layer provenance while anthropogenic Pb shows no clear relationship withf(⁷Be,²¹⁰Pb). All but four samples have²¹⁰Po/²¹⁰Pb activity ratios <0.2 suggesting short aerosol residence time. Among the four samples (²¹⁰Po/²¹⁰Pb = 0.42–0.88), two suggest an upper troposphere source and longer aerosol residence time while the remaining two cannot be explained by long aerosol residence time nor a significant component of dust. We hypothesize that enrichments of²¹⁰Po in them are linked to Po enrichments in the sea surface microlayer, possibly through Po speciation as a dissolved organic or dimethyl polonide species. 

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3. Atmospheric Transport of North African Dust‐Bearing Supermicron Freshwater Diatoms to South America: Implications for Iron Transport to the Equatorial North Atlantic Ocean

   https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL090476  

   Barkley, Anne E.; Olson, Nicole E.; Prospero, Joseph M.; Gatineau, Alexandre; Panechou, Kathy; Maynard, Nancy G.; Blackwelder, Patricia; China, Swarup; Ault, Andrew P.; Gaston, Cassandra J. (March 2021, Geophysical Research Letters)

   Abstract The equatorial North Atlantic Ocean (NAO) is a nutrient‐limited ecosystem that relies on the deposition of long‐range transported iron (Fe)‐containing aerosols to stimulate primary productivity. Using microscopy, we characterized supermicron and supercoarse mode African aerosols transported to the western NAO in boreal winter/spring. We detected three particle types including African dust, primary biological aerosol particles, and freshwater diatoms (FDs). FDs contained 4% Fe by weight due to surficial dust inclusions that may be susceptible to chemical processing and dissolution. FDs were typically larger than dust particles and comprised 38% of particles between 10 and 18 μm in diameter. The low density, high surface‐area‐to‐volume ratio, and large aspect ratios of FD particles suggest a mechanism by which they can be carried great distances aloft. These same properties likely increase the residence time of FDs in surface waters thereby increasing the time for Fe dissolution and their potential impact on marine biogeochemical cycles. 

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4. Surface Ocean Biogeochemistry Regulates the Impact of Anthropogenic Aerosol Fe Deposition on the Cycling of Iron and Iron Isotopes in the North Pacific

   https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL098016  

   König, D.; Conway, T. M.; Hamilton, D. S.; Tagliabue, A. (July 2022, Geophysical Research Letters)

   Abstract Distinctively‐light isotopic signatures associated with Fe released from anthropogenic activity have been used to trace basin‐scale impacts. However, this approach is complicated by the way Fe cycle processes modulate oceanic dissolved Fe (dFe) signatures (δ⁵⁶Fe_diss) post deposition. Here we include dust, wildfire, and anthropogenic aerosol Fe deposition in a global ocean biogeochemical model with active Fe isotope cycling, to quantify how anthropogenic Fe impacts surface ocean dFe and δ⁵⁶Fe_diss. Using the North Pacific as a natural laboratory, the response of dFe, δ⁵⁶Fe_diss, and primary productivity are spatially and seasonally variable and do not simply follow the footprint of atmospheric deposition. Instead, the effect of anthropogenic Fe is regulated by the biogeochemical regime, specifically the degree of Fe limitation and rates of primary production. Overall, we find that while δ⁵⁶Fe_dissdoes trace anthropogenic input, the response is muted by fractionation during phytoplankton uptake, but amplified by other isotopically‐light Fe sources. 

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5. Evaluating the Drivers of Quaternary Dust Fluxes to the Western North Pacific: East Asian Dustiness and Northern Hemisphere Gustiness

   https://doi.org/10.1029/2022PA004571  

   Abell, Jordan T.; Winckler, Gisela; Pullen, Alex; Kinsley, Christopher W.; Kapp, Paul A.; Middleton, Jennifer L.; Pavia, Frank J.; McGee, David; Ford, Heather L.; Raymo, Maureen E. (September 2023, Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology)

   Abstract Quantifying variability in, and identifying the mechanisms behind, East Asian dust production and transport across the last several million years is essential for constraining future dust emissions and deposition. Our current understanding of East Asian dust dynamics through the Quaternary is primarily limited to low‐resolution records from the North Pacific Ocean, those from the Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP), and paleoenvironmental reconstructions from arid basins. All are susceptible to sediment winnowing and focusing as well as input of poorly constrained or unidentified non‐dust detrital material. To avoid these limitations, we examine high‐resolution, constant flux proxy‐derived dust fluxes from the North Pacific and find evidence for higher glacial dust fluxes in the late Pliocene‐early Pleistocene compared to the late Pleistocene‐Holocene. Our results suggest decreasing dust transported to the mid‐latitude North Pacific Ocean from eastern Asia across the Quaternary. This observation is ostensibly at odds with previous dust records from marine sediments and the CLP, and with the perception of higher East Asian dust production and transport during the late Pleistocene associated with the amplification of glaciations. We provide three possible scenarios to describe the ∼2,700‐ky evolution of eastern Asia glacial dust dynamics, and discuss them in the context of sediment production, availability, and atmospheric circulation. Our data and proposed driving mechanisms not only raise questions about the framework typically used to interpret dust archives from East Asia and the North Pacific Ocean, but also provide a roadmap for hypothesis testing and future work necessary to produce better‐constrained records of paleo‐dust fluxes. 

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