Size dependence of iron solubility of Asian mineral dust particles

Abstract

Asian mineral dust was sampled at Hokkaido, northern Japan, in spring 2004 and 2006. Iron solubility of the bulk aerosol, the size‐segregated aerosol (0.45 < D < 11 μm), the snow containing a lot of mineral dust, and a simulated Asian dust standard (CJ‐2) were measured by an iron dissolution experiment using a newly developed continuous leaching method. The iron solubility of the bulk aerosol samples was 1.2–2.2%. Within the 1.1 < D < 11 μm size range, iron solubility (0.52–8.2%) was higher in the smaller fractions of the size‐segregated aerosol samples. We considered that the preferential removal of larger mineral dust particles from the air by snow resulted in the low iron solubility of the snow samples. Iron solubility of mineral dust was relatively lower in the 4.7 < D < 11 μm fraction of the size‐segregated aerosol samples (0.52%), in the snow samples (0.20–0.57%), and in the CJ‐2 standard (0.33%), which are dominated by large size particles (D > 4.7 μm). We suggest that an iron solubility of around 0.4% is typical for Asian mineral dust of large particles transported to Hokkaido. In the high‐nutrient low‐chlorophyll region of the western subarctic North Pacific near the Asian continent, where the mineral dust deposition is dominated by large particles, the iron solubility of the mineral dust entering the ocean is around 0.4%.