by JEREMY JACQUOT
The Mauritanian section was of particular interest to scientists on the GEOTRACES cruise because it offered a tantalizing opportunity to study how biological and physical processes such as upwelling and the advection of particulate matter from the continental shelf affect the distributions of trace elements. The section is also close to the vast Saharan desert, and the team wanted to quantify how dust storms affect trace element concentrations in the surface waters of the ocean, as well as how the additions of dust to the ocean promote the sinking of larger particles to deeper waters.
It was also (unfortunately) the perfect spot from which to study the abundance and diversity of African insects, which were carried to our ship by the winds.
So what did we discover?
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