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Science 1 April 2005:
Vol. 308. no. 5718, pp. 67 - 71
DOI: 10.1126/science.1105959
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Review

Global Iron Connections Between Desert Dust, Ocean Biogeochemistry, and Climate

T. D. Jickells,1 Z. S. An,2 K. K. Andersen,3 A. R. Baker,1 G. Bergametti,4 N. Brooks,1 J. J. Cao,2 P. W. Boyd,5 R. A. Duce,7 K. A. Hunter,6 H. Kawahata,8 N. Kubilay,9 J. laRoche,10 P. S. Liss,1 N. Mahowald,11 J. M. Prospero,12 A. J. Ridgwell,13 I. Tegen,14* R. Torres15

The environmental conditions of Earth, including the climate, are determined by physical, chemical, biological, and human interactions that transform and transport materials and energy. This is the "Earth system": a highly complex entity characterized by multiple nonlinear responses and thresholds, with linkages between disparate components. One important part of this system is the iron cycle, in which iron-containing soil dust is transported from land through the atmosphere to the oceans, affecting ocean biogeochemistry and hence having feedback effects on climate and dust production. Here we review the key components of this cycle, identifying critical uncertainties and priorities for future research.

1 School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR47TJ, UK.
2 State Key Lab of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, AS, 10 Fenghui South Road, Post Office Box 17, China.
3 Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Juliane Maries Vej 30, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark.
4 Laboratoire Inter-universitaire des Systèmes Atmospherique, Universités Paris 7 and Paris 12, UMR CNRS 7583, Paris, France.
5 National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Centre for Chemical and Physical Oceanography, Department of Chemistry; Post Office Box 56; University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
6 Department of Chemistry, Post Office Box 56; University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
7 Departments of Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences, Texas A&M University, TAMU 3146, College Station, TX 77843–3146, USA.
8 Geological Survey of Japan, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba-higashi 1-1-1, Ibaraki 305–8567, Japan.
9 Institute of Marine Sciences, Middle East Technical University, Post Office Box 28, Erdemli-Mersin 33731, Turkey.
10 Leibniz-Institute für Meereswissenchaften IFM-GEO-MAR, Marine Biogeochemistry, Gebäude Westufer, Düsternbrooker Weg 20, 24105 Kiel, Germany.
11 National Center for Atmospheric Research. Post Office Box 3000, Boulder, CO 80307, USA.
12 Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Miami, 4600 Rickenbacker Causeway, Miami, FL 33149–1089, USA.
13 Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of British Columbia, 6339 Stores Road, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z4 Canada.
14 Max-Planck-Institute for Biogeochemistry. Post Office Box 10, 01 64 07701 Jena, Germany.
15 Universidad de Conception, Departamento de Oceanografia, Casilla 160C, Chile.

* Present address: Institute for Tropospheric Research, Permoserstrasse 15 04318, Leipzig, Germany.

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