Where the ocean and the atmosphere interact is a thin thin very very thin new ecosystem.
- The top hundredth inch of the ocean is chemically distinct.
- The top hundredth-inch of the ocean is like a sheet of jelly.
- The top hundredth-inch is an odd habitat thinner than a human hair.
The research ship Kilo Moana and it’s robotic skimmers are back to port.
Scientists have learned that the top .25mm of the ocean is an ecosystem all its own – a special kind of habitat for microbes that act as a biological pump, a critical gas membrane and primary food web.
“It’s the ocean breathing through its skin.” [nytimesWall]
Bacteria within the biofilm play a key role in controlling greenhouse gases and our nitrogen cycle among other things. The lively boundary layer has a rich food supply of sticky carbohydrates in a broth of dissolved carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous and amino acids which enable vast microbial respiration across the globe. [pdf]
There’s much to learn about the sea-surface microlayer; this ‘layer of sudden change‘.
/rant/
The ocean’s gelatinous gas-managing biofilm is strong enough to withstand typical winds, whitecaps, downwelling and bubble swarms.
But pollution?
Tests show microbe-destroying chlorine and surfactants penetrating via the water column. And of course, dioxins and PCBs, our standby poisons. Plus polybrominated diphenyl ethers already leaching from e-waste. Plus our typical sampling of ibuprofen and mood drugs, the pouring antiseptic over the globe kitchen-and-bath bug killer triclosan…. Not to overlook the average blend of hydrocarbons and toxic dust.
One day I hope we manage our crushing industrial detritus along with the retail silt that has spread so far so deep so high we now call it micropollution.
Fixing Earth is not a burden, but an era of opportunity and good sense.
/end rant/