Long-Range Atmospheric Transport of Soil Dust from Asia to the Tropical North Pacific: Temporal Variability

The concentration of airborne soil dust at Enewetak Atoll (11 degrees N, 162 degrees E) in April 1979 was 2.3 micrograms per cubic meter but decreased steadily to 0.02 microgram per cubic meter over the next 5 months. The spring dust is probably derived from China; its deposition rate (~ 0.3 millimeter per 1000 years) suggests that it may be a significant contributor to the deep-sea sediments of the North Pacific.