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Letter

Nature Geoscience 2, 337–340 (1 May 2009) | doi:10.1038/ngeo501

Iron solubility driven by speciation in dust sources to the ocean

Andrew W. Schroth , John Crusius , Edward R. Sholkovitz & Benjamin C. Bostick

Although abundant in the Earth|[rsquo]|s crust, iron is present at trace concentrations in sea water and is a limiting nutrient for phytoplankton in approximately 40|[percnt]| of the ocean. Current literature suggests that aerosols are the primary external source of iron to offshore waters, yet controls on iron aerosol solubility remain unclear.