High-latitude dust over the North Atlantic: inputs from Icelandic proglacial dust storms
Joseph M. Prospero
Joanna Bullard
Richard Hodgkins
2134/11211
https://repository.lboro.ac.uk/articles/journal_contribution/High-latitude_dust_over_the_North_Atlantic_inputs_from_Icelandic_proglacial_dust_storms/9484940
Mineral aerosols play an important role in the atmosphere-ocean climate system. Research has
focused almost exclusively on sources in low-latitude arid regions, but here we show that there
are substantial sources in cold, higher latitudes. A 6-year record of measurements made on
Heimaey, an island south of Iceland, reveals frequent dust events with concentrations exceeding
20 micrograms per cubic meter. Much of this potentially iron-rich dust is transported southward
and deposited in the North Atlantic. Emissions are highest in spring and spatially and temporally
associated with active glacial outwash plains; large dust events appear to be associated with glacial
outburst floods. In response to global warming, ice retreat on Iceland and in other glacierized
areas is likely to increase dust emissions from these regions.
2012-12-14 12:23:22
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Earth Sciences not elsewhere classified