In the vast low-nutrient—low-chlorophyll (LNLC) ocean, the vertical nutrient supply from the subsurface to the sunlit surface waters is low, and atmospheric contribution of nutrients may be 1 order of magnitude greater over short timescales. Recently, significant experimental, field and modeling work allowed us to better link atmospheric deposition with nutrient availability, ocean productivity, carbon cycling and marine emissions. By improving our understanding on how atmospheric inputs are impacting biological activity and the carbon balance in oligotrophic environments, their representation in biogeochemical models at different timescales and space scales will be better assessed. In particular, processes may be affected by ongoing environmental changes in the ocean such as a decrease in pH and an increase in temperature.

This special issue aims at gathering contributions from both experimental and modeling approaches showing how natural or anthropogenic inputs from the atmosphere can impact biogeochemical and ecological processes in the present and future oligotrophic ocean. It will present the results obtained during the PEACETIME (ProcEss studies at the Air-sEa Interface after dust deposition in the MEditerranean sea) cruise conducted in 2017 in the Mediterranean Sea, but the special issue is open to any submissions provided that the subject is consistent with the objectives defined above.