The new UNEP report, entitled “The Impacts of Sand and Dust Storms on Oceans” has been released virtually on Friday the 6^th of November 2020. The report was written by Dr. Nicholas Middleton, Professor at Oxford University and worldwide renown expert on Sand and Dust Storms.

"Each year, SDS carry an estimated average of half a billion tonnes of minerals and nutrients, organic and inorganic matter to the oceans. This desert dust has a range of effects on marine biodiversity. Dust provides a major source of externally supplied nutrients and trace metals. These elements are essential for all life forms and their atmospheric supply can exert control over ocean primary production via single-celled organisms collectively known as phytoplankton. This key metabolic process drives biogeochemical cycles in the oceans, including the carbon, nitrogen, sulphur, phosphorus and silicon cycles."

The report can be downloaded from the UNEP website.