TY - JOUR
T1 - Role of atmospheric nutrient pollution in stimulating phytoplankton growth in small area and shallow depth water bodies
T2 - Arabian Gulf and the sea of Oman
AU - Farahat, Ashraf
AU - Abuelgasim, Abdelgadir
N1 - Funding Information:
Authors would like to acknowledge the support provided by the Deanship of Scientific Research (DSR) at the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) for funding their work through Project No. IN141051 . Dr. Abuelgasim was funded through grant 21R033 -NSS Center 7–2017 from the National Science, Space and Technology Center at the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) . Author Farahat would like to thank Dr. Hesham El-Askary, Chapman University for his help in partially editing the proposal No. IN141051 .
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2019/12/15
Y1 - 2019/12/15
N2 - Limited investigations into the role of dust deposition in enhancing phytoplankton growth in small and shallow water areas have been reported in the remote sensing literature. In this work, we show that phytoplankton growth was stimulated by nutrients supplied by dust deposition over sea water following three major dust storms that blew over the Arabian Gulf (AG) and the Sea of Oman (SO). Shallow water conditions, as those found in the AG and SO, limit convection and the role of mixing processes in supplying nutrients and in mediating bloom growth. Using satellite data, we analyzed three major dust events over the AG and SO in 2009, 2012, and 2015, and the phytoplankton bloom enhancement that ensued. We used the Mixed Layer Depth model to simulate water mixing and convection currents during and after the high dust events. We also applied the Regional Climate Model RegCM 4.5 to derive dust depositions patterns over AG and SO following the dust outbreak. Additionally, we computed potential requirement versus supply of nitrogen, phosphorus, and iron nutrients to support the observed phytoplankton growth using published nutrient data. Carbon to nitrogen to phosphorus, and carbon to chlorophyll ratios were obtained from in situ measurements in the AG and SO. Shallow depth mixed layers can likely still supply phosphate, but not enough nitrate and iron, leading to potential nitrate and dissolved iron limitations. Our work shows that dust storms are playing a significant role in providing nitrate supplies to support phytoplankton growth in shallow waters such as the AG and SO.
AB - Limited investigations into the role of dust deposition in enhancing phytoplankton growth in small and shallow water areas have been reported in the remote sensing literature. In this work, we show that phytoplankton growth was stimulated by nutrients supplied by dust deposition over sea water following three major dust storms that blew over the Arabian Gulf (AG) and the Sea of Oman (SO). Shallow water conditions, as those found in the AG and SO, limit convection and the role of mixing processes in supplying nutrients and in mediating bloom growth. Using satellite data, we analyzed three major dust events over the AG and SO in 2009, 2012, and 2015, and the phytoplankton bloom enhancement that ensued. We used the Mixed Layer Depth model to simulate water mixing and convection currents during and after the high dust events. We also applied the Regional Climate Model RegCM 4.5 to derive dust depositions patterns over AG and SO following the dust outbreak. Additionally, we computed potential requirement versus supply of nitrogen, phosphorus, and iron nutrients to support the observed phytoplankton growth using published nutrient data. Carbon to nitrogen to phosphorus, and carbon to chlorophyll ratios were obtained from in situ measurements in the AG and SO. Shallow depth mixed layers can likely still supply phosphate, but not enough nitrate and iron, leading to potential nitrate and dissolved iron limitations. Our work shows that dust storms are playing a significant role in providing nitrate supplies to support phytoplankton growth in shallow waters such as the AG and SO.
KW - Arabian gulf
KW - Chlorophyll a concentration
KW - Convection and mixing
KW - Dust deposition
KW - Sea of Oman
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U2 - 10.1016/j.atmosenv.2019.117045
DO - 10.1016/j.atmosenv.2019.117045
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85073053482
SN - 1352-2310
VL - 219
JO - Atmospheric Environment
JF - Atmospheric Environment
M1 - 117045
ER -