Saharan dust deposition effects on production in the Mediterranean Sea

Memoria de tesis doctoral presentada por Rachele Gallisai para optar al grado de Doctora por la Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), realizada bajo la dirección del Dr. Francesc Peters del Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM-CSIC).-- 139 pagesThe potential capacity of fertilization of surface oceans by atmospheric deposition is of scientific interest. This is especially true in the oligotrophic Mediterranean Sea. Its surface waters are extremely poor in nutrients necessary for plankton growth. At the same time, it borders with the largest and most active desert area in the world and the atmosphere over the basin is subject to frequent injections of mineral dust particles. Moreover, future scenarios foresee increases in the region's aridity, thus increasing the dust load, as well as changes in ocean stratification that will increase the potential impact of dust deposition on surface waters. Thus, it is important to study the links between deposition and plankton stimulation. [...]The author has been supported by a JAE pre-doctoral grant from "Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)" from October 2009 to September 2013 (JAE-Predoc 2009-036). The research presented in this thesis was carried out in the framework of the project ADEPT [grant number CTM2011-23458]Peer Reviewe