A large Saharan dust cloud is currently moving out of Africa and into the open Atlantic Ocean, transported by the Trade Winds towards the Antilles and South America, and marking an early start to the Saharan dust storm season.

In this Special Issue, we invite authors to submit manuscripts that will contribute to improve existing understanding of the ecological and biogeochemical impacts of atmospheric nutrients from natural and/or anthropogenic sources on marine and terrestrial ecosystems, both in the past, present and future. Deadline for manuscript submissions is the 30th November 2022!

Since late September 2021, we are working as team members of of an exciting new project lead by the Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML) and funded by the European Space Agency (ESA): PRIMary productivity in Upwelling Systems (PRIMUS). At PRIMUS, we will be leading Science Case 8, which aims at comparing one year of sediment trap flux data produced by mineralising phytoplankton (including coccolithophores) in the Canary Current system (off Mauritania) with PRMUS NPP data, using both standard and Lagrangian frameworks.

Over the past month, our NIOZ dusty-colleagues were chasing Saharan dust in the tropical NE Atlantic off Mauritania (NW Africa), in the highly productive Canary Current EBUS. From collecting lots of dust brought by the NE Trades, to seeing volcanic eruptions from Cumbre Vieja volcano, and ending with fabulously improvised snacks made of gooseneck barnacles which had overgrown around the buoys, their adventure was a success!

Over the past week, CHASE attended the Iron at the Air-Sea Interaction Workshop (26-30 July 2021, Asheville, NC, USA and on-line), organized by GEOTRACES to discuss the factors controlling aerosol-born bioaccessible labile Fe to move across the ocean-atmosphere interface and to become bioavailable for biological uptake in the ocean.

And yet another contribution by our dusty-team, finally published in L&O! This time, we explore the role of coccolithophores (calcifying phytoplankton) in the export production of carbonate between NW Africa and the Caribbean, and of Saharan dust deposition in potentially modulating their impact on the “biological carbon pump” across the tropical North Atlantic.

Our dusty-team will be presenting new findings from the tropical North Atlantic this Friday, 30th April, during virtual EGU 2021! Jan-Berend Stuut (NIOZ) will show a comparison between fluxes and particle-size distribution data from dust collected from the atmosphere at the surface of the tropical North Atlantic and dust settling through the ocean underneath and intercepted by the submarine sediment traps at 1200 m depth. Enjoy!

Did you know that more than 180 million tons of dust are lifted from the Sahara Desert and blown out off North Africa by strong seasonal winds every year? Take a look at the dramatic display of airborne dust particles that in February 18, 2021, by the NOAA-20 spacecraft!

We present you CHASE, a new project that aims to expand existing knowledge on the transatlantic export productivity of coccolithophores gained from DUSTCO towards an environmentally broader perspective, spanning tropical, subtropical, temperate, subpolar and polar waters across the entire Atlantic Ocean and Southern Ocean.

Great news for those of you who are curious on the interactions between atmospheric dust, climate and the biological carbon pump! Your are all most welcome to join the EGU 2020: "Sharing Geosciences Online" for attending the dust session on Friday, 08 May, 10:45-12.30!

Good dusty-news! We are pleased to announce that Laura Korte’s most recent paper is finally out, fresh from the press! In this study, Korte and co-authors show that oligotrophic conditions, typical of tropical oceans, can act as important sinks for atmospheric CO2 whenever its surface waters are fertilised by Amazon fresh water flowing from the NE South America, and by dust originated from Africa! For more details, click here!

Over the past two months, the DUSTCO team has joined Patrizia Ziveri at ICTA-UAB Unit of Excellence, in Barcelona (Spain), to work on sediment trap material collected along our transatlantic transect. Our goal is to use the Sr/Ca-coccolith ratios as a proxy for distinguishing dust-related productivity from dust-related mineral ballasting!

For the second year on a row, the DUSTCO team is taking part on the Atlantic Meridional Transect (AMT 29) for exploring the effects of atmospheric dust on biological processes across the Atlantic, with special focus on the coccolithophore communities. 

From 15-20 September, we presented our research at the 17th Conference of the International Nannoplankton Association (INA), hosted by the University of São Paulo (USP) and gathering coccolithophore experts from all over the world!

Here, we explore the influence of wind-forced variations of the nutricline on coccolithophore export production from upwelling affected NW Africa to the the Caribbean, highlighting the importance of considering phytoplankton- and carbonate production across the entire photic zone when projecting the effects of ocean warming on future primary production.

The last months were crazy busy getting all set for implementing our very first Saharan wet dust fertilization experiment on a monoculture of Emiliania huxleyi, probably the most opportunistic and cosmopolitan of the coccolithophores. Here are some updates regarding what we were looking for with this experiment!

The expedition is now almost ending and we are heading back to Punta Arenas, where everything started nearly 2 months ago. It was a long and fulfilling experience, resulting from the enthusiasm of all the participants and of the overall good conditions during the expedition. We have high expectations from this scientific collaboration, anticipating many discoveries regarding the effects of climate change on the Antarctic pelagic ecosystem.

The last weeks of January 2019 were spent monitoring the surrounding marine environment north of the Antarctic Peninsula. On board the “Oncle Max” Polar Ship, we work in shifts of 12 hours in order to maximize the navigation and sampling time of this remote region. The water column has been sampled almost every day since, to investigate the distribution of biomass and composition of phytoplankton communities, including the biogeochemically important coccolithophores.

After crossing the stunning Patagonian channels of Chile and Argentina, we arrived at the Drake Passage expecting a more difficult navigation, given the strength of the currents and waves typical of this region. The ship rocked a bit more, leading some of our travel mates to "seasick" or to take refuge for longer periods in their cabins. But the DUSTCO/PROPOLAR team members withstood the swing, remaining awake and enthusiastic at the triumphal entry into the Antarctic Zone, crossing the 60ºS :-)

We are starting the New Year with a great new adventure! On the 2th January 2019 we will sail from Punta Arenas (southern Chile) all the way south, through the Drake Passage, to reach the Antarctic Peninsula, on board the polar ship Almirante Maximiano in the context of the project PHYTO-NAP (“Phytoplankton response to climate trends in the Northern Antarctic Peninsula”). Why are we interested in the Antarctic Peninsula? Click here to know more about it :-)