skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: The Fertilizing Role of African Dust in the Amazon Rainforest. A First Multiyear Assessment Based on Data from Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations

Journal Article · · Geophysical Research Letters
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/2015GL063040· OSTI ID:1225157
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [6];  [7];  [7];  [4];  [8]
  1. Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States); NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, MD (United States)
  2. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, MD (United States)
  3. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, MD (United States); Univ. of Maryland, Baltimore, MD (United States)
  4. Univ. of Maryland, Baltimore, MD (United States)
  5. Univ. of Miami, FL (United States)
  6. NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA (United States)
  7. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, MD (United States); Universities Space Research Association, Columbia, MD (United States)
  8. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

Abstract The productivity of the Amazon rainforest is constrained by the availability of nutrients, in particular phosphorus (P). Deposition of long‐range transported African dust is recognized as a potentially important but poorly quantified source of phosphorus. This study provides a first multiyear satellite‐based estimate of dust deposition into the Amazon Basin using three‐dimensional (3‐D) aerosol measurements over 2007–2013 from the Cloud‐Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP). The 7 year average of dust deposition into the Amazon Basin is estimated to be 28 (8–48) Tg a −1 or 29 (8–50) kg ha −1  a −1 . The dust deposition shows significant interannual variation that is negatively correlated with the prior‐year rainfall in the Sahel. The CALIOP‐based multiyear mean estimate of dust deposition matches better with estimates from in situ measurements and model simulations than a previous satellite‐based estimate does. The closer agreement benefits from a more realistic geographic definition of the Amazon Basin and inclusion of meridional dust transport calculation in addition to the 3‐D nature of CALIOP aerosol measurements. The imported dust could provide about 0.022 (0.006–0.037) Tg P of phosphorus per year, equivalent to 23 (7–39) g P ha −1  a −1 to fertilize the Amazon rainforest. This out‐of‐basin phosphorus input is comparable to the hydrological loss of phosphorus from the basin, suggesting an important role of African dust in preventing phosphorus depletion on timescales of decades to centuries.

Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
1225157
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1402260
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA-108241; KP1703010
Journal Information:
Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 42, Issue 6; ISSN 0094-8276
Publisher:
American Geophysical UnionCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 208 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (40)

Dust and smoke transport from Africa to South America: Lidar profiling over Cape Verde and the Amazon rainforest journal January 2009
Aerosol characteristics and sources for the Amazon Basin during the wet season journal January 1990
Physical and chemical properties of aerosols in the wet and dry seasons in Rondônia, Amazonia journal January 2002
Further evidence for significant smoke transport from Africa to Amazonia: AFRICAN SMOKE IN AMAZONIA journal October 2011
Aerosol profiling with lidar in the Amazon Basin during the wet and dry season: AEROSOL PROFILING IN AMAZONIA journal November 2012
Transport of North African dust from the Bodélé depression to the Amazon Basin: a case study journal January 2010
Fertilizing the Amazon and equatorial Atlantic with West African dust: AFRICAN FERTILIZER FOR AMAZON AND ATLANTIC journal July 2010
Tropospheric Aerosol Optical Thickness from the GOCART Model and Comparisons with Satellite and Sun Photometer Measurements journal February 2002
Multi-decadal aerosol variations from 1980 to 2009: a perspective from observations and a global model journal January 2014
Saharan dust in Brazil and Suriname during the Large-Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia (LBA) - Cooperative LBA Regional Experiment (CLAIRE) in March 1998 journal July 2001
An Investigation of Interannual Rainfall Variability in Africa journal March 1988
Dust transport and deposition observed from the Terra-Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) spacecraft over the Atlantic Ocean journal January 2005
Evaluation of CALIOP 532 nm aerosol optical depth over opaque water clouds journal January 2015
Impacts of biomass burning emissions and land use change on Amazonian atmospheric phosphorus cycling and deposition: AMAZONIAN ATMOSPHERIC PHOSPHORUS journal December 2005
Global distribution of atmospheric phosphorus sources, concentrations and deposition rates, and anthropogenic impacts: GLOBAL ATMOSPHERIC PHOSPHORUS journal December 2008
Climate Change, Deforestation, and the Fate of the Amazon journal January 2008
Variations in Amazon forest productivity correlated with foliar nutrients and modelled rates of photosynthetic carbon supply journal November 2011
Interactions among Amazon land use, forests and climate: prospects for a near-term forest tipping point
  • Nepstad, Daniel C.; Stickler, Claudia M.; Filho, Britaldo Soares-
  • Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, Vol. 363, Issue 1498 https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2007.0036
journal February 2008
Impact of desert dust on the biogeochemistry of phosphorus in terrestrial ecosystems journal April 2004
African Droughts and Dust Transport to the Caribbean: Climate Change Implications journal November 2003
Atmospheric transport of soil dust from Africa to South America journal February 1981
Characterizing the annual cycle of African dust transport to the Caribbean Basin and South America and its impact on the environment and air quality: African dust transport to South America journal July 2014
North African dust export and deposition: A satellite and model perspective: NORTH AFRICAN DUST EXPORT AND DEPOSITION journal January 2012
Amazon Basin Soils: Management for Continuous Crop Production journal May 1982
Characterization of the optical properties of atmospheric aerosols in Amazônia from long-term AERONET monitoring (1993–1995 and 1999–2006) journal January 2008
Amazon Deforestation and Climate Change journal March 1990
Saharan dust in the Amazon Basin journal April 1992
Aerosol chemistry during the wet season in central Amazonia: The influence of long-range transport journal January 1990
Litterfall, Nutrient Cycling, and Nutrient Limitation in Tropical Forests journal February 1984
Nutrient Cycling in Moist Tropical Forest journal November 1986
The global 3-D distribution of tropospheric aerosols as characterized by CALIOP journal January 2013
Mesoscale modeling and satellite observation of transport and mixing of smoke and dust particles over northern sub-Saharan African region: DUST AND SMOKE MIXING OVER SAHEL journal November 2013
A satellite-based assessment of transpacific transport of pollution aerosol journal January 2008
Aerosols from Overseas Rival Domestic Emissions over North America journal August 2012
An integrated analysis of aerosol above clouds from A-Train multi-sensor measurements journal June 2012
Satellite perspective of aerosol intercontinental transport: From qualitative tracking to quantitative characterization journal April 2013
Quantification of trans-Atlantic dust transport from seven-year (2007–2013) record of CALIPSO lidar measurements journal March 2015
Atmospheric P deposition to the subtropical North Atlantic: sources, properties, and relationship to N deposition: ATMOSPHERIC P DEPOSITION TO THE SUBTROPICAL NORTH ATLANTIC journal February 2013
Uncertainty in modeling dust mass balance and radiative forcing from size parameterization journal January 2013
Saharan dust in the Amazon Basin journal January 1992

Cited By (52)

Validation and expected error estimation of Suomi-NPP VIIRS aerosol optical thickness and Ångström exponent with AERONET: Validation of VIIRS Aerosol Products journal June 2016
A new approach developed to study variability in North African dust transport routes over the Atlantic during 2001–2015 journal October 2017
Vertical Structure of Aerosols and Mineral Dust Over the Bay of Bengal From Multisatellite Observations journal December 2017
Nutrient limitation in tropical secondary forests following different management practices journal March 2017
Rapid nitrogen fixation by canopy microbiome in tropical forest determined by both phosphorus and molybdenum journal July 2019
Multiple drivers of production and particle export in the western tropical North Atlantic: Particle export in western Atlantic Ocean journal April 2020
Multiple phosphorus acquisition strategies adopted by fine roots in low-fertility soils in Central Amazonia journal February 2019
Observations and Cloud‐Resolving Modeling of Haboob Dust Storms Over the Arabian Peninsula journal November 2018
Wet Dust Deposition Across Texas During the 2012 Drought: An Overlooked Pathway for Elemental Flux to Ecosystems journal August 2018
Dissimilarity Between Dust, Heat, and Momentum Turbulent Transports During Aeolian Soil Erosion journal January 2019
Soil properties explain tree growth and mortality, but not biomass, across phosphorus-depleted tropical forests journal February 2020
African biomass burning is a substantial source of phosphorus deposition to the Amazon, Tropical Atlantic Ocean, and Southern Ocean journal July 2019
Glacial to Holocene changes in trans-Atlantic Saharan dust transport and dust-climate feedbacks journal November 2016
Retrieving Aerosol Characteristics From the PACE Mission, Part 1: Ocean Color Instrument journal July 2019
Analysis of Atmospheric Aerosol Optical Properties in the Northeast Brazilian Atmosphere with Remote Sensing Data from MODIS and CALIOP/CALIPSO Satellites, AERONET Photometers and a Ground-Based Lidar journal October 2019
Transport of Mineral Dust and Its Impact on Climate journal April 2018
Feedbacks of dust and boundary layer meteorology during a dust storm in the eastern Mediterranean journal January 2015
Saharan dust long-range transport across the Atlantic studied by an airborne Doppler wind lidar and the MACC model journal January 2016
Modeling investigation of light-absorbing aerosols in the Amazon Basin during the wet season journal January 2016
Evaluation of climate model aerosol seasonal and spatial variability over Africa using AERONET journal January 2017
Soluble iron nutrients in Saharan dust over the central Amazon rainforest journal January 2017
Impact of the choice of the satellite aerosol optical depth product in a sub-regional dust emission inversion journal January 2017
Long-term study on coarse mode aerosols in the Amazon rain forest with the frequent intrusion of Saharan dust plumes journal January 2018
Long-term observations of cloud condensation nuclei over the Amazon rain forest – Part 2: Variability and characteristics of biomass burning, long-range transport, and pristine rain forest aerosols journal January 2018
Net radiative effects of dust in the tropical North Atlantic based on integrated satellite observations and in situ measurements journal January 2018
Coarse-mode mineral dust size distributions, composition and optical properties from AER-D aircraft measurements over the tropical eastern Atlantic journal January 2018
Impact of long-range transport over the Atlantic Ocean on Saharan dust optical and microphysical properties based on AERONET data journal January 2018
Coarse and giant particles are ubiquitous in Saharan dust export regions and are radiatively significant over the Sahara journal January 2019
Interannual variability and trends of combustion aerosol and dust in major continental outflows revealed by MODIS retrievals and CAM5 simulations during 2003–2017 journal January 2020
Retrieving the global distribution of the threshold of wind erosion from satellite data and implementing it into the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory land–atmosphere model (GFDL AM4.0/LM4.0) journal January 2020
Atmospheric salt deposition in a tropical mountain rain forest at the eastern Andean slopes of South Ecuador – Pacific or Atlantic origin? journal January 2015
CALIPSO lidar calibration at 532 nm: version 4 nighttime algorithm journal January 2018
Comparison of aerosol optical depth from satellite (MODIS), sun photometer and broadband pyrheliometer ground-based observations in Cuba journal January 2018
Extinction and optical depth retrievals for CALIPSO's Version 4 data release journal January 2018
Novel aerosol extinction coefficients and lidar ratios over the ocean from CALIPSO–CloudSat: evaluation and global statistics journal January 2019
Applying the Dark Target aerosol algorithm with Advanced Himawari Imager observations during the KORUS-AQ field campaign journal January 2019
Discriminating between clouds and aerosols in the CALIOP version 4.1 data products journal January 2019
Past African dust inputs in the western Mediterranean area controlled by the complex interaction between the Intertropical Convergence Zone, the North Atlantic Oscillation, and total solar irradiance journal January 2020
ESD Reviews: Climate feedbacks in the Earth system and prospects for their evaluation journal January 2019
Climate engineering by mimicking natural dust climate control: the iron salt aerosol method journal January 2017
Assimilation of MODIS Dark Target and Deep Blue observations in the dust aerosol component of NMMB-MONARCH version 1.0 journal January 2017
Saharan dust events in the European Alps: role in snowmelt and geochemical characterization journal January 2019
Status and future of numerical atmospheric aerosol prediction with a focus on data requirements text January 2018
Applying the Dark Target aerosol algorithm with Advanced Himawari Imager observations during the KORUS-AQ field campaign collection January 2019
Net radiative effects of dust in the tropical North Atlantic based on integrated satellite observations and in situ measurements collection January 2018
Coarse and Giant Particles are Ubiquitous in Saharan Dust Export Regions and are Radiatively Significant over the Sahara posted_content June 2019
Discriminating Between Clouds and Aerosols in the CALIOP Version 4.1 Data Products posted_content June 2018
Status and future of numerical atmospheric aerosol prediction with a focus on data requirements text January 2018
Glacial to Holocene changes in trans-Atlantic Saharan dust transport and dust-climate feedbacks text January 2016
ESD Reviews: Climate feedbacks in the Earth system and prospects for their evaluation text January 2019
Coarse and giant particles are ubiquitous in Saharan dust export regions and are radiatively significant over the Sahara posted_content May 2020
Saharan dust events in the European Alps: role on snowmelt and geochemical characterization posted_content November 2018

Similar Records

African biomass burning is a substantial source of phosphorus deposition to the Amazon, Tropical Atlantic Ocean, and Southern Ocean
Journal Article · Mon Jul 29 00:00:00 EDT 2019 · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · OSTI ID:1225157
+8 more
Disproving the Bodélé Depression as the Primary Source of Dust Fertilizing the Amazon Rainforest
Journal Article · Sat Jun 20 00:00:00 EDT 2020 · Geophysical Research Letters · OSTI ID:1225157
+6 more
Physical impacts of regional climate change in the West African Sahel and the question of desertification
Conference · Sat Nov 01 00:00:00 EST 1997 · OSTI ID:1225157

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES