In the ocean, a little bit of metal can go a long way.
A new Cornell-led study shows that trace metals, deposited by aerosols like dust and other particles in the atmosphere, have a hefty impact on marine biota, affecting biological productivity and changing the ocean ecosystem.
The paper, “Aerosol Trace Metal Leaching and Impacts on Marine Microorganisms,” was published in Nature Communications in July.
“In the remote oceans, the atmospheric deposition of metals can be really important for the biota,” said lead author Natalie Mahowald, the Irving Porter Church Professor of Engineering and Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future faculty director for the environment. “In a pollution event or a dust storm, and even in these faraway places, atmospheric deposition can be the most important source of new metals.”
The sources of such aerosol particles range from volcanoes, wildfires and desert dust to anthropogenic causes, like the burning of fossil fuels. After being spewed up and undergoing chemical reactions in the atmosphere, these particles often make their way to remote ocean regions, where they are deposited via precipitation or dry deposition.
Read more at Cornell University
Photo Credit: Hans Hillewaert via Wikimedia Common