New seminar: “Atmospheric particles above the ocean: worldwide atmospheric transportation of microorganisms and the effects of mineral dust on maritime ecosystems”
On 20th February 2018, at 13:30, Dr. Jesús Arrieta, a researcher from the Spanish Oceanographic Institute, held a seminar entitled “Atmospheric particles above the ocean: worldwide atmospheric transportation of microorganisms and the effects of mineral dust on maritime ecosystems” at the offices of the Izaña Atmospheric Research Centre in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. During his presentation, the speaker showed us some very interesting results drawn from the world-wide scale research about the airborne microbes that was carried out during the Malaspina Circumnavigation Expedition. Among the various activities that were done on this research vessel, several air samples from the mixed layer and samples of water up to 4000 meters deep were taken during the 7 months the worldwide expedition lasted. Among other conclusions, it was confirmed that dust carries pollutants and thousands of microorganisms over long distances, being capable of crossing oceans. A great contribution of iron and other nutrients into the ocean occurs during the transportation, increasing phytoplankton productivity and the oceans’ capacity to capture the carbon dioxide present in the atmosphere. This deposition of nutrients into the ocean is one of the factors that can cause massive cyanobacteria proliferations, such as the ones observed in the Canary Islands last summer.
Click here to go to the section Seminars of the CIAI’s website, where there is available more information (abstract, presentation in pdf, and/or link to a published study) about this and other past seminars (sometimes also about the next programmed seminar).
Translated by Yaiza Aguilar, ULL trainee student; supervised by IARC staff.
