Bioavailability and Biogeochemical Processes of Trace Metals in the Surface Ocean

1991). However, the dissolution process of trace metals in atmospheric aerosols such as the Asian dust, which is a main supply process of micronutrients to the surface seawater, has not been fully elucidated. Biologically-important trace metals, such as iron, zinc and copper, are known to exist mostly in the form of an organic complex with natural organic ligands in seawater, and thus their biological availability, as well as their chemical reactivity, may dynamically change by the photochemical processes and biochemical reduction in the surface water (Morel and Price 2003). Therefore, in order to understand the chemical reactivity of trace metals which are released from the atmospheric aerosols to the surface seawater, the biological uptake of these elements by microbes, and the scavenging processes of these elements within the water column, it is necessary to conduct a study that considers interactions between the chemical speciation of trace elements and the biological processes. In the context of the foregoing scientific background, the Surface OceanLower Atmosphere Study (SOLAS) has Bioavailability and Biogeochemical Processes of Trace Metals in the Surface Ocean