Friese, Carmen A; van der Does, Michèlle; Merkel, Ute; Iversen, Morten Hvitfeldt; Fischer, Gerhard; Stuut, Jan-Berend W (2016): Raw grain-size distributions of the sediment trap time series CB 14 upper, CB 15 lower, CB 16 lower, CBi 1 upper, CBi 2 upper and CBi 3 upper [dataset publication series]. PANGAEA, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.860539, Supplement to: Friese, CA et al. (2016): Environmental factors controlling the seasonal variability in particle size distribution of modern Saharan dust deposited off Cape Blanc. Aeolian Research, 22, 165-179, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aeolia.2016.04.005
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Abstract:
The particle sizes of Saharan dust in marine sediment core records have been used frequently as a proxy for trade-wind speed. However, there are still large uncertainties with respect to the seasonality of the particle sizes of deposited Saharan dust off northwestern Africa and the factors influencing this seasonality. We investigated a three-year time-series of grain-size data from two sediment-trap moorings off Cape Blanc, Mauritania and compared them to observed wind-speed and precipitation as well as satellite images. Our results indicate a clear seasonality in the grain-size distributions: during summer the modal grain sizes were generally larger and the sorting was generally less pronounced compared to the winter season.
Gravitational settling was the major deposition process during winter. We conclude that the following two mechanisms control the modal grain size of the collected dust during summer: (1) wet deposition causes increased deposition fluxes resulting in coarser modal grain sizes and (2) the development of cold fronts favors the emission and transport of coarse particles off Cape Blanc. Individual dust-storm events throughout the year could be recognized in the traps as anomalously coarse-grained samples. During winter and spring, intense cyclonic dust-storm events in the dust-source region explained the enhanced emission and transport of a larger component of coarse particles off Cape Blanc. The outcome of our study provides important implications for climate modellers and paleo-climatologists.
Project(s):
Coverage:
Median Latitude: 21.020832 * Median Longitude: -19.758608 * South-bound Latitude: 20.750000 * West-bound Longitude: -20.796660 * North-bound Latitude: 21.298330 * East-bound Longitude: -18.700000
Date/Time Start: 2003-05-31T00:01:00 * Date/Time End: 2006-09-06T12:01:00
License:
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC-BY-3.0)
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6 datasets
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Datasets listed in this publication series
- Friese, CA; van der Does, M; Merkel, U et al. (2016): Raw grain-size distributions of the sediment trap time series CB14 upper. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.860527
- Friese, CA; van der Does, M; Merkel, U et al. (2016): Raw grain-size distributions of the sediment trap time series CB15. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.860532
- Friese, CA; van der Does, M; Merkel, U et al. (2016): Raw grain-size distributions of the sediment trap time series CB16. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.860533
- Friese, CA; van der Does, M; Merkel, U et al. (2016): Raw grain-size distributions of the sediment trap time series CBi1 upper. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.860534
- Friese, CA; van der Does, M; Merkel, U et al. (2016): Raw grain-size distributions of the sediment trap time series CBi2 upper. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.860535
- Friese, CA; van der Does, M; Merkel, U et al. (2016): Raw grain-size distributions of the sediment trap time series CBi3 upper. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.860538