Mineral-aerosol transport to the north Atlantic and north Pacific: the impact of African and Asian sources

Abstract

In this chapter, I have assessed the impact of mineral-aerosol transport on the two major oceans in the Northern Hemisphere - the Atlantic and the Pacific. In each region, the mineral-aerosol concentrations are determined by the transport of materials from arid regions located in only one of the bordering continental land masses: from North Africa for the Atlantic and from Asia for the Pacific. North America and Europe appear to play minor roles as sources of dust for oceans in the Northern Hemisphere. It is noteworthy that in one case, the transport takes place primarily in the tropics although in the other case it occurs in the midlatitudes. -from Author