Abstract
Concentrations of dissolved nutrients (PO4, NO3, NH4 and Si(OH)4) and pH have been monitored in 84 rain water samples collected during 3 winters at the northern Mediterranean Israeli coast (Haifa). The main dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) compound was nitrate, with concentrations between 4.2 and 300 μM. Ammonium was dominant only in 12 out of 60 events, and its concentrations ranged between 2.2 and 96.9 μM. Phosphate showed a range of concentrations between 0.09 and 8.8 μM. High silicic acid concentrations (>2 μM) were detected only during relatively basic rains (pH>6), probably due to greater dissolution of quartz and clay particles into rain water under more basic conditions. Although about 30% of the rains are considered to be acid rains, their main H+ donor is non-seaspray sulfate and not nitrate. Nitrate and phosphate showed similar temporal variability, suggesting their common origin for most of the rain events.
N/P ratios in rainwater (median of 80:1) were higher than in Levantine Waters (~27:1), while those of the river outlets along the Israeli Mediterranean coast were found to be lower, suggesting that atmospheric derived nutrients may be important in determining the abnormally high ratios in the eastern Mediterranean.
The measured N flux in rainfall and the calculated total (wet + dry) N flux to the SE Mediterranean are 0.3 and 0.377 g N m−2 yr−1, respectively. These values are somewhat lower than fluxes determined previously in the western Mediterranean, probably due to reduced anthropogenic inputs from N. Europe.
Total suspended particles (TSP) concentrations (referred to as dust) over the SE Mediterranean Sea were about half the concentrations recorded at the central and northern Israeli Mediterranean coast. The estimated aerosol fluxes into the coastal and the SE Mediterranean Sea were 72 and 36 g m−2 yr−1, respectively. Based on the latter, the calculated dry P flux to the SE Mediterranean Sea is about 0.0139 g P m−2 yr−1.
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Herut, B., Krom, M. (1996). Atmospheric Input of Nutrients and Dust to the SE Mediterranean. In: Guerzoni, S., Chester, R. (eds) The Impact of Desert Dust Across the Mediterranean. Environmental Science and Technology Library, vol 11. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-3354-0_35
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-3354-0_35
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