Collecting Saharan and Namibian Dust

Lent to us by the NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, the dust collector functions like a continuous air vacuum (in fact this particular collector's name is "Dyson"!) sucking aerosols into a filter for later analysis of many parameters, among them the dust's origin. Provenance determination is important as the source of dust influences what type and how much is entering the atmosphere, as well as how far it travels. This has an influence on the marine fertilisation effect of limiting nutrients - which is of particular interest to this campaign - and on the scattering impact that these aerorols have on Earth's radiation budget. The data collected will be complemented with satellite, meteorology and backward trajectory models. In addition to its origin we also examine dust composition and micronutrient content, which plays a crucial role in the ocean's primary productivity and therefore its biological carbon pump.

To operate this device we have three MSc students from VU Amsterdam on board, eager to learn on their first oceanographic cruise!

Disclaimer: only one of the 3 VU students is pictured here, the dust device is just that popular.