Clifton Buck

Graduate Student

Chemical Oceanography
Major Professor: Dr. Bill Landing

Department of Oceanography
Rm 315 OSB, OSB
Florida State University
Tallahassee, Florida 32306-4320

Research

Mineral dust aerosols are the major source for a variety of trace elements to vast areas of the world's oceans. More importantly, research has shown that these aerosols supply the surface oceans with iron, an important micronutrient. Previous studies have shown that iron is often the limiting nutrient for phytoplankton in high-nutrient low-chlorophyll regions of the ocean. By stimulating the growth of phytoplankton, iron deposition from aerosols is an important factor in primary productivity and the drawdown of carbon dioxide into the ocean.

While the importance of iron is well understood, the magnitude of aerosol iron deposition and its subsequent dissolution in the surface ocean have not been well quantified. My work involves collecting dust aerosols and measuring the solubility of iron as well as a wide variety of other elements, including aluminum. My dataset includes dust values from the Gulf of Mexico, North Atlantic Ocean, and two trans-basin cruises in the Pacific Ocean. My goal is to provide data that will better constrain global carbon cycle models and answer questions as to the fate of aerosol iron in the ocean.

Publication:

Buck, C.S., W.M. Landing, J.A. Resing, and G.T. Lebon, 2006. Aerosol iron and aluminum solubility in the northwest Pacific Ocean: Results from the 2002 IOC cruise, Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst., 7, Q04M07, doi:10.1029/2005GC000977.