Dissolved Aluminum Measurement Methods and Their Application in Atmospheric Aerosol Research
Atmospheric deposition of desert dust aerosol is a major source of key nutrients for surface seawater in open oceans,significantly impacting marine biogeochemistry and primary productivity.As a tracer for desert dust aerosol,aluminum(Al)is widely used to estimate deposition fluxes of desert dust aerosol into the oceans,and dissolved Al concentrations in surface seawater and aerosol particles are key parameters for using this method to estimate desert dust deposition fluxes into the oceans.In this paper,we first review separation,extraction and detection methods used to measure dissolved Al in seawater and aerosol samples,and discuss their principles,advantages,limitations and applicability.After advances in aerosol Al solubility are systematically reviewed,we point out that the uncertainties in aerosol Al solubility are the bottleneck which currently limits accurate estimations of desert dust deposition fluxes into the oceans,and further analyze the sources of these uncertainties.In the final,we also outline research directions for dissolved Al analysis and aerosol Al solubility research.
dissolved aluminumsurface seawateratmospheric aerosolseparation and extractiondetection methods