Change in climate can change color of oceans

Don’t expect the oceans to look the same in future. Don’t worry as it will not turn pink or anything that is radically different, but the change is expected to be more apparent through optic sensors than through a human eye. However a new study has said that it is also an early warning sign that global warming is significantly altering the ecosystems of the planet.

A change in the climate will make the blue portions of the ocean bluer and the green portions greener. This was figured out by the scientists by creating a global model that stimulates the growth of a tiny creature that lives in the oceans and affects the color that we can see. The recent research was published on February 4, 2019 in the journal Nature Communications. For the human eye, the ocean looks blue or green due to a combination of how the sunlight interacts with the water molecules and with whatever that lives in the water.

The molecules in the water absorb everything but the blue part of the spectrum of the sunlight and the water reflects the blue color back. That is the color that is seen by the human eyes. In the same way the water seems green when it has more phytoplankton, tiny, micro organisms which are like plants and use chlorphyl to capture mostly the blue portions of the spectrum of sunlight. The photosynthesis is used to create the chemical energy that they need to live. In presence of more of such creatures in the water absorbing sunlight, it makes the water look greener.

On the other hand if there are few phytoplankton, the water looks bluer. The growth of the creatures depends on how much sunlight , nutrients and carbon-di-oxides are around. A change in climate is altering the ocean currents which means there will be fewer nutrients for phytoplankton to feed on in some areas.

Photo Credits: Pixabay