Prof Dr Jan-Berend Stuut

I study desert dust that is emitted from deserts around the world. I am particularly interested in the material that makes it out to sea. Desert dust is blown around the atmosphere of our planet and spreads nutrients and metals that are important for ecosystems on land as well as in the ocean. For example, dust acts as food for plankton in the ocean, which not only produces the oxygen we breathe, it also reduces the greenhouse gas CO2 and -under special conditions- the even more efficient greenhouse gas CH4. In addition to the removal of greenhouse gases, there are many other relationships between dust and climate through processes in the atmosphere and ocean. This is why I am also interested in deposits of mineral dust in the ocean, which can help us understand the climate of the past.