An exceptional phytoplankton bloom in the southeast Madagascar Sea driven by African dust deposition.

ABSTRACT: Rising surface temperatures are projected to cause more frequent and intense droughts in the world's drylands. This can lead to land degradation, mobilization of soil particles, and an increase in dust aerosol emissions from arid and semi-arid regions. Dust aerosols are a key source of bio-essential nutrients, can be transported in the atmosphere over large distances, and ultimately deposited onto the ocean's surface, alleviating nutrient limitation and increasing oceanic primary productivity. Currently, the linkages between desertification, dust emissions and ocean fertilization remain poorly understood. Here, we show that dust emitted from Southern Africa was transported and deposited into the nutrient-limited surface waters southeast of Madagascar, which stimulated the strongest phytopl

SUBMITTER: Gittings JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11443548 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature