ORCID
0000-0003-0663-8323 (Sedwick)
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2025
DOI
10.1029/2024GL113217
Publication Title
Geophysical Research Letters
Volume
52
Issue
8
Pages
e2024GL113217
Abstract
As a major component of mineral aerosol that partially dissolves in seawater, aluminum (Al) has been used to estimate time-averaged dust fluxes to the ocean, based on dissolved aluminum (DAl) concentrations and an assumed replacement time of DAl (tau DAl) in the surface mixed layer, along with the fractional solubility (Als) and mass abundance of Al in dust. We apply this method in the Bermuda region using seasonal water-column DAl concentrations, and compare our results with fluxes estimated from Al measured in Bermuda aerosols and rain. Inventories of DAl over the maximum mixed-layer depth of 200 m and empirically derived Als values yield mean dust fluxes of 5.3-11.2 g m-² yr-¹, around 4- to 9-fold higher than fluxes estimated from aerosols and rain, which average 1.2 g m-² yr-¹ over a 318-day sampling period. This discrepancy likely reflects an underestimate in tau DAl and lateral transport of DAl in the surface ocean.
Rights
© 2025. The Authors.
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
Data Availability
Article states: "Data presented and discussed here, and associated metadata, are available from the U.S. National Science Foundation's Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office at: https://www.bco-dmo.org/project/822807 (Sedwick & Sohst, 2025; Sedwick et al., 2024, 2025)."
Original Publication Citation
Williams, T. E., Sedwick, P. N., Sohst, B. M., Buck, K. N., Caprara, S., Johnson, R. J., Ohnemus, D. C., Resing, J. A., Sofen, L. E., Tagliabue, A., & Twining, B. S. (2025). Dust deposition to the Sargasso Sea: A comparison of estimates using aluminum in the surface ocean versus aerosols and rainwater. Geophysical Research Letters, 52(8), 1-10, Article e2024GL113217. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL113217
Repository Citation
Williams, T. E.; Sedwick, P. N.; Sohst, B. M.; Buck, K. N.; Caprara, S.; Johnson, R. J.; Ohnemus, D. C.; Resing, J. A.; Sofen, L. E.; Tagliabue, A.; and Twining, B. S., "Dust Deposition to the Sargasso Sea: A Comparison of Estimates Using Aluminum in the Surface Ocean Versus Aerosols and Rainwater" (2025). OES Faculty Publications. 539.
https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/oeas_fac_pubs/539
Supporting Information