References

BGD

Biogeosciences Discussions

BGD

Biogeosciences Discuss.

1810-6285

Göttingen, Germany

10.5194/bgd-9-8611-2012

Mediterranean basin-wide correlations between Saharan dust deposition and ocean chlorophyll concentration

Gallisai

¹ Peters

¹ Basart

² Baldasano

J. M.

² ³

Departament de Biologia Marina i Oceanografia, Institut de Ciències del Mar, CSIC, 08003 Barcelona, Catalunya, Spain

Earth Sciences Department, Barcelona Supercomputing Center-Centro Nacional de Supercomputación, BSC-CNS, Barcelona, Catalunya, Spain

Environmental Modelling Laboratory, Technical University of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain

17 07 2012

9 7 8611 8639

2012

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

This article is available from https://bg.copernicus.org/preprints/9/8611/2012/bgd-9-8611-2012.html

The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://bg.copernicus.org/preprints/9/8611/2012/bgd-9-8611-2012.pdf

The fertilizing potential of atmospheric deposition on ocean production in the Mediterranean is a matter of debate. In this study, eight years (from 2000 to 2007) of weekly chlorophyll concentration data derived from SeaWiFS satellite observations and dust deposition data provided by the BSC-DREAM8b model are investigated in a basin-wide scale in the Mediterranean Sea to describe the geographical distribution and dynamics of both variables and to find potential relationships between them. <br><br> In all analyses the largest positive cross correlation values are found with a time lag of 0 8-d periods. The coupling between annual cycles of chlorophyll and dust deposition may on average explain an 11.5% in chlorophyll variation in a large part of the Mediterranean. The Eastern Mediterranean shows the largest annual correlations, while the responsiveness to large events is small. The contrary is true for the Western and Northwestern Mediterranean where, if anything, only large events may add to the chlorophyll variability. The Central Mediterranean shows the highest responsiveness of chlorophyll to mineral dust deposition with annual contributions from seasonal variability as well as stimulations owing to large events. <br><br> These results highlight the importance of dust deposition from African and Middle East origin in the potential stimulation of phytoplankton production in the nutrient depleted surface layers of the Mediterranean Sea.

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