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Environmental

Study: Melting glaciers will increase dust storms

02/03/2012

This article was translated by an automatic translation system, and was therefore not reviewed by people.

 

 


 


From Patagonia to Iceland to discover glaciers decrease in soils where they raise dust storms that affect the global climate and marine life, according to a study published Thursday in Science. "The growing presence of mineral aerosols at high latitudes is surprising," said Joseph Prospero, a researcher at the University of Miami and author of the study.

Research by Prospero established that dust from tropical regions of Africa and transported to much of southern and eastern United States is the cause of between 75% to 80% of the dust that falls on Florida. This phenomenon is not only a contemporary and sediment samples on the ground and deep ice show increments of movement of dust related to glacial periods.

"There is considerable interest in the global distribution of dust sources, the factors affecting the issue and the properties of particles emitted," said Prospero, who over the years set up 12 observation stations in the world.

The study which Prospero developed in the last six years in Iceland found that "there are huge dust storms that originate there and going to the North Atlantic Ocean." "The dust contains iron, which is an essential micronutrient for marine organisms, phytoplankton," explained Professor Emérito of the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami.

"As the nitrate and phosphate are essential to the microorganisms, they also require small amounts of iron, for the manufacture of important enzymes and the conversion of carbon dioxide in body mass" explained. Thus, the iron in the ocean water stimulates growth of phytoplankton, which in turn affects the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

"Iceland appears to play an important role as a supplier of nutrients for marine organisms, but not determine the magnitude of that role," he said. According to Prospero, dust storms are increasing in Iceland as glaciers decrease due to global warming.

"Through satellites, we observed a decrease of glaciers in Iceland, Alaska and Patagonia, and everywhere we see an increase in the dust," he continued. "This powder comes from the soil around the glacier, which is decreasing as leaves exposed materials that are suspended in the air." According to him, "at the current pace, in a hundred years the glaciers of Iceland will disappear."

The dust itself contributes to increase the rate of decrease in ice. "When the glaciers are strong and clean, its color is white, bright, resistant to light," he said. "But when they begin to accumulate dust in their grooves in the upper part of the glacier, absorbs more heat from sunlight and melting is faster."

The researcher and his colleagues spent six years studying the island of Heimaey in southern Iceland, and performing measurements of dust particles (aerosols) in the air. Scientists identified frequent episodes of production of dust in the region which in some cases was 20 micrograms per cubic meter of particles, and determined that the emissions of dust island usually higher spring.

Much of the powder is transported toward the south and falls over the North Atlantic.



Source: Environment Brazil

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