<p>A recent article by <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2015GL063040" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Yu et al.</a> estimated that 28 million tons of dust from the Sahara fall to the surface over the Amazon basin per year out of the 132 million tons that remain in the air when the dust reaches South America. The deposited dust is rich in phosphorus and contributes 22,000 tons of P per year, which is about the same amount lost from rain and flooding. The question is: how important is this phosphorus to the biological production of the Amazon basin? Also, considering <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2015GL063040" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Yu et al.</a> reported very large interannual variability, do we expect to see any variability in the production at annual to decadal scales?</p>

<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/62OVq.jpg" alt="Sahara dust"></p>

<desert><atmospheric-dust><amazon>
How important is Sahara dust for the Amazon?
arkaia
# How important is Sahara dust for the Amazon?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-03-02)

A recent article by [Yu et al.](http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2015GL063040) estimated that 28 million tons of dust from the Sahara fall to the surface over the Amazon basin per year out of the 132 million tons that remain in the air when the dust reaches South America. The deposited dust is rich in phosphorus and contributes 22,000 tons of P per year, which is about the same amount lost from rain and flooding. The question is: how important is this phosphorus to the biological production of the Amazon basin? Also, considering [Yu et al.](http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2015GL063040) reported very large interannual variability, do we expect to see any variability in the production at annual to decadal scales?

![Sahara dust](https://i.sstatic.net/62OVq.jpg)

**Tags:** desert, atmospheric-dust, amazon


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